By David Harsanyi
Thursday, February 24, 2022
As Russia invades Ukraine, it’s worth remembering that
not only has Germany phased out its successful nuclear program, insuring
that Europe will be more reliant on Russian energy — making the cost of
implementing sanctions far more painful for the West — but it hasn’t taken NATO
seriously in years.
Member nations have promised to spend a measly two
percent of GDP on defense. Pre-Covid, only nine of 28 nations in the pact had done so: the
U.S., Greece, Estonia, the U.K., Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland.
Turkey, France, Norway, Slovakia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Portugal all spend
more of their GDP on defense than the fourth-largest economy in the world,
which spends 1.38 percent. Germany’s GDP is nearing $4 trillion, and it
notified the other member nations that its estimated spending will to fall to
1.25 percent of GDP in 2024. It now promises to meet the 2 percent threshold
by 2031. If any nation has a responsibility to deter Russian
aggression, it’s Germany, which lords over the EU as if it were a bunch of
client states. Instead, it lobbied the United States to stop sanctions and
appease Russia. But I’m sure Ukraine is grateful for the helmets.
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