NATO TO RAISE DEFENSE SPENDING 5 PERCENT

Written by Michael Thervil

President Trump NATO 2025 media conference at the Hague, Netherlands on June 25.

[NATO raise defense spending 5 percent] Nearly all NATO member countries agreed to American President Donald Trump's demand of raising the military defense spending budget of all NATO members by 5% from the previous 2% of each country’s GDP. The only NATO member that was excused from the increase of 5% was Spain due to Spain’s position that increasing military spending to 5% to NATO would constitute threatening its own social welfare programs, international strategic interest, and environmental initiatives. President Trump stated to the Press that NATO was “no longer a rip-off”. This resulted in Spain striking a “deal” with all other NATO members. He also stated the following:

“It’s a monumental win for the United States because we were carrying much more than our fair share. It was quite unfair actually. But this is a big win for Europe and for actually Western civilization”.

During the previous era of each NATO member country spending 2% of its GDP, America was voluntarily spending 16%-17% ($753 million) of it’s GDP toward NATO military spending. Many people the world over are asking why when the previous agreed percentage was 2%? The answer to that question appears to be a complex one in which america having the largest economy of all NATO members and what many would call an “unwarranted fear of Russia” tops the list of answers as to why America spent nearly 4 times the amount on NATO military defense than any other country in the NATO bloc.

Another topic that was heavily discussed during yesterday's NATO summit was the Israel-Iran war which President Trump has coined the “12-Day War”. President Trump went on to say that both Israel and Iran were “tired” of fighting and decided to “go home. The majority of geopolitical analysts have taken the position that because Iran has dealt such serious military blows to Israel, Israel wouldn’t be able to sustain any more damage from Iran in the long term.

This is coupled with the fact that America did not want to play a significant part in the war. What gives credence to these claims is that the bombing attacks by America on Iran yielded virtually no deaths or significant damage to Iran's nuclear facilities. In short, the targets America selected were purposely selected to appease Israel but not encourage Iran to take any more decisive actions against Israel or any other American assets in the region.

While the U.K.’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer cut a deal with America to purchase roughly 12 F-35A fighter jets that can carry nuclear weapons, Germany’s Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz (Friedrich Merz) has taken the position that it and other European countries should do more to decrease their dependance on the United States. could it be that Germany took this position because it is ambitious to boost its own military in the face of Russia – who poses no threat? Recently Friedrich Merz made the statement to the Press that Germany “must together be so strong that no one can dare to attack us”. He followed this statement with: “We need both strength and reliability, both internally and externally.” Again, the question is why?

Is this Germany's way of attempting to stay relevant in the face of a multipolar world? Or is it Germany's way of shaking off its guilt of Nazi Germany to move forward into the future? Let us know what you think in the comments below.