Trump and Eisenhower were right about NATO

[Quix0te]

“Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, NATO’s first supreme allied commander Europe, felt strongly that his mission was to get Europeans “back on their military feet” — not for American troops to become the permanent bodyguard for Brussels and Berlin.

“If in 10 years, all American troops stationed in Europe for national defense purposes have not been returned to the United States,” he wrote of NATO in 1951, “then this whole project will have failed.”

“But as leaders of NATO allies gather in Washington on Tuesday for the alliance’s 75th anniversary, some 90,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Germany, Italy, Britain and elsewhere, making up a significant portion of the 500,000 NATO troops on high readiness.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/07/opinion/nato-europe-us-ukraine-defense.html#permid=134465323

 

[mediaexpert]

Reading the comments shows just how ignorant most of the Times readers are.

 

[Purdue79fan]

According to Nato estimates for 2024, Poland will be the top spender for the second year running, allocating 4.1% of GDP (the total value of goods and services produced).
Estonia is in second place at 3.4% with the US in third place at 3.4%, which is about the same level as it has been spending for the last decade.
The UK comes ninth on the list with 2.3%. The government has committed to increasing that to 2.5% but has not said when this will happen.
The average for Nato members in Europe and Canada is estimated at 2.0%.

 

[Quix0te]

The average for Nato members in Europe and Canada is estimated at 2.0%.

You must be brain-dead to what has transpired in NATO over the past 75 years. Yes, in 2024, under the extreme pressue of the Ukraine war, a majority of NATO members have met their 2% pledge after failing to do so for the previous 74 years. Ten years ago, in 2014, a grand total of 3 of 30 NATO members (10%) met that 2% pledge (link).

https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2024/6/pdf/240617-def-exp-2024-en.pdf