German media outlets Süddeutsche Zeitung, WDR, and NDR also cite the report, noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears intent on testing NATO’s Article 5 guarantees. The alliance’s mutual defence clause obliges member states to come to one another’s aid if attacked. The assessment suggests Putin may seek to challenge how seriously that commitment would be honoured.
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You should measure expenses in bullets, shells and bombs. Not in who managed to pay the most money for them.
Quite far down the list. Of the 40 countries, per GDP they’re what, 32nd? And that’s after decades of chronic underspending, where their capability has crumbled.
War propaganda is when you have a credible defence. Right-o.
Having an higher GDP doesn’t mean you have to spend more
Well sure, but it’s a good start for a comparison. Best would be to add in the existing capability, the level of threat, size of the country, that sort of stuff.
It’s just that even Germans have now realized that their chronic underspending has really hurt them and now to have any sort of respectable defence they’ll need to spend more. A more moderate amount for a longer time would’ve been better but it is what it is.
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Do you know in what shape their military it is?
With billions spend on it yearly sound like it’s on pair with most countries around the world
Unfortunately you’re wrong about that.