In 2006, NATO Defence Ministers agreed to commit a minimum of 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defence spending to continue to ensure the Alliance’s military readiness.
Funny how few of the people who mention that Trump pressed NATO members about their defense spending mention that both Obama and Bush also repeatedly pressed NATO about this ....
I agree with you but to be honest the graph’s point is only to rouse you, not to prove a rational point or start a reasonable conversation.
If the complaint is that members aren’t contributing 2% of gdp it certainly doesn’t highlight the fact how close these countries are in that respect. It only highlights the total amount of expenditure of the USA compared to countries that are much much smaller such as Greece that happens to contribute more per gdp than the USA.
Perhaps the biggest problem however is that the expenditure in the graph is NOT the amount of money that goes toward NATO, it’s total military spending which is a different thing entirely.
If only there was time to scratch beyond the surface whenever we see an infograph:
I think it would be interesting to have the same graph based on projected spending for 2024, because I know a lot of those countries which were under 2% now have voted through budgets that are above 2% in 2023/2024.
Japan simply thinks they have apologized enough. They call their current situation “apology fatigue”. Basically the people are tired of feeling like they have to keep apologizing for something that happend “so long ago”. Any Japanese politician who would issue another formal apology would commit political suicide. They would lose the support of their own party and of a big part of the population. This isn’t just in regards to South Korea but towards all of Japans neighbors.
So for now Japanese politicians who want the two countries to work together try to find wiggle room. Japanese politicians generally acknoweledge that the South Korean people went through very hard times but do so without admiting Japanese fault.
Over the years, some Russian-made weapons—such as anti-tank and shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles— have made their way into Gaza, likely via Iran. But so far, there is no clear evidence that Russia supported Hamas in planning or executing its surprise attack on Israel.
In short: Russia tried for years to mediate peace talks among Palestinian groups like Hamas and the PLO, while Russian weapons reaching Hamas through Iran and they are currently benefiting from the Western focus on Israel and divert attention from the Ukraine conflict.
It’s surprising how the Hamas attack has unfolded, but it’s clear that terror states like Iran, Russia, and China are leveraging this situation for their military interests.
Typical China moment. The Ancient Imperial China turned inwards at their apex, followed by a long decline and then the century of humiliation. History rhymes.
This is going back to a cold war dynamic. Countries would very often court and accept help from both sides on an international stage to their benefit. This is also in the context of Turkey forging much closer ties to Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine.
geopolitics
Hot
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.