International [NATO News] What Sweden brings to NATO as its Newest Member

[Arkain2K]

Sweden should hike military budget to 2.6% of GDP, defence committee says​

By Reuters | April 26, 2024

STOCKHOLM, April 26 (Reuters) - Sweden should raise its military spending to around 2.6% of GDP by 2030, a parliamentary committee said in a report on Friday, as the country rebuilds its defence capabilities after joining NATO in March.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced a rethink of security policy in Sweden. The Nordic country's defence spending has roughly doubled since 2020 to around 120 billion crowns ($11 billion) in 2024, when the government says it will meet NATO's target of a military budget equivalent to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP).

The committee proposed speeding up an expansion of the army, investment in defence against air attack, and an expansion of the navy. It said conscription should be increased to 12,000 recruits from 2032 and there should also be more money for civil defence.

"If you put all these ... together with the plans the military has put forward, we are going to add around 200 billion (crowns) ($18.5 billion) during this period," Hans Wallmark, defence spokesperson for the Moderate Party and one of the authors of the report, told a press conference.

The committee is made up of representatives of all the parties in Sweden's parliament and, as such, many of its recommendations are very likely to be adopted.

There was no agreement on how to finance the additional spending, however.

Like most Western states, Sweden gradually scaled down its defence spending after the end of the Cold War three decades ago but started to ramp that up again from around 1% of GDP following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Most other NATO members have also reversed course, after years during which spending did not meet NATO's 2% target, causing irritation in the United States, the alliance's de facto leader.

During his term in office President Donald Trump frequently complained that the United States was paying more than its fair share.

His suggestion in February that he would not protect countries that fail to meet the alliance's defense spending targets, and would even encourage Russia to attack them, caused consternation in Europe.

Of NATO's 32 members, Poland spends the highest percentage of GDP on defence at about 3.9%. Britain said on Tuesday it would hike military spending.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sweden-should-hike-military-budget-26-gdp-defence-committee-says-2024-04-26/

 

[Arkain2K]

Donald Trump has saved NATO – and the West ​

Alliance members are increasing defence spending precisely because they fear he will pull out
By Richard Kemp | 27 April 2024


It may sound counter-intuitive, but Donald Trump has probably done more to strengthen Nato than any other political leader in recent years. While he was president, he berated European members of the alliance for failing to pay what he called their “dues”, accusing them of freeloading on the US.

Earlier this year, he seemed to go even further by suggesting at an election rally, not only that he would not bring America to the defence of “delinquent” Nato members, but would encourage Russia to attack them. Cue a predictable international outcry, led by Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, who accused him of undermining “all of our security”. Joe Biden, of course, waded in, saying Trump’s remarks were “appalling and dangerous” and would give Putin “a green light for more war and violence”.

Both of them were wrong. Anyone who has the slightest understanding of Trump’s negotiating techniques knows that he is unlikely to have meant what he said literally; it was a rhetorical device to emphasise his entirely valid point about recalcitrant Nato members. As for a green light, it was Biden who flashed that at Putin with his disastrous retreat from Kabul in 2021, which can only have contributed to Moscow’s calculations on invading Ukraine the following year.

Trump’s presidency was in fact a red light against Putin’s aggression, largely because of his unpredictable nature. And that same unpredictability has now rattled many Nato leaders into recognising that they need to step up their defence efforts for fear that he might abandon Nato in a second term.

Poland, now with the largest defence spending by percentage of GDP in the whole of the alliance, has bolstered its military out of fear of Russian invasion. But do we really think that the likes of Germany would finally have started to get their act together without genuine concern over a second Trump presidency? It doesn’t seem to have been Putin’s invasion that spurred them into action. We’ve had two years of heel-dragging and inadequate military support to Kyiv on the part of France and Germany. Britain, meanwhile, has been inexplicably continuing to reduce the size of its Armed Forces.

But not any longer. And Rishi Sunak even implicitly linked his announcement of a significant boost in defence spending to Trump, when he said: “We can’t keep thinking America will pay any price or bear any burden if we are unwilling to make sacrifices for our own security”. Sunak’s long overdue uplift was not only intended to bring Britain’s defences closer to where they need to be, but also to encourage other Nato members to match our future spending of 2.5 per cent of GDP in anticipation of a potential Trump victory in November.

UK ministers are reportedly pushing actively for that ahead of the Nato summit in Washington this summer. Even 2.5 per cent will not be enough to meet Nato’s new capability targets, but at least it is a start. Eighteen Nato members will meet the current 2 per cent target this year, a significant rise compared to the start of Trump’s first presidency.

Remembering Trump’s mercurial character, it is of course possible that as president he might actually pull the US out of Nato, though that would require Congressional approval. His then National Security Adviser, John Bolton, said he came close to doing so back in 2018. But even if that does happen, Trump-driven increased spending in Europe will have already made the world a safer place. Combined with greater military capability, the political will demonstrated by making hard choices on defence expenditure in a tough economic climate will act as the most effective deterrent against aggression.

Donald Trump has saved Nato – and the West

Alliance members are increasing defence spending precisely because they fear he will pull out

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Donald Trump has saved NATO – and the West ​

Alliance members are increasing defence spending precisely because they fear he will pull out
By Richard Kemp | 27 April 2024


It may sound counter-intuitive, but Donald Trump has probably done more to strengthen Nato than any other political leader in recent years. While he was president, he berated European members of the alliance for failing to pay what he called their “dues”, accusing them of freeloading on the US.

Earlier this year, he seemed to go even further by suggesting at an election rally, not only that he would not bring America to the defence of “delinquent” Nato members, but would encourage Russia to attack them. Cue a predictable international outcry, led by Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg, who accused him of undermining “all of our security”. Joe Biden, of course, waded in, saying Trump’s remarks were “appalling and dangerous” and would give Putin “a green light for more war and violence”.

Both of them were wrong. Anyone who has the slightest understanding of Trump’s negotiating techniques knows that he is unlikely to have meant what he said literally; it was a rhetorical device to emphasise his entirely valid point about recalcitrant Nato members. As for a green light, it was Biden who flashed that at Putin with his disastrous retreat from Kabul in 2021, which can only have contributed to Moscow’s calculations on invading Ukraine the following year.

Trump’s presidency was in fact a red light against Putin’s aggression, largely because of his unpredictable nature. And that same unpredictability has now rattled many Nato leaders into recognising that they need to step up their defence efforts for fear that he might abandon Nato in a second term.

Poland, now with the largest defence spending by percentage of GDP in the whole of the alliance, has bolstered its military out of fear of Russian invasion. But do we really think that the likes of Germany would finally have started to get their act together without genuine concern over a second Trump presidency? It doesn’t seem to have been Putin’s invasion that spurred them into action. We’ve had two years of heel-dragging and inadequate military support to Kyiv on the part of France and Germany. Britain, meanwhile, has been inexplicably continuing to reduce the size of its Armed Forces.

But not any longer. And Rishi Sunak even implicitly linked his announcement of a significant boost in defence spending to Trump, when he said: “We can’t keep thinking America will pay any price or bear any burden if we are unwilling to make sacrifices for our own security”. Sunak’s long overdue uplift was not only intended to bring Britain’s defences closer to where they need to be, but also to encourage other Nato members to match our future spending of 2.5 per cent of GDP in anticipation of a potential Trump victory in November.

UK ministers are reportedly pushing actively for that ahead of the Nato summit in Washington this summer. Even 2.5 per cent will not be enough to meet Nato’s new capability targets, but at least it is a start. Eighteen Nato members will meet the current 2 per cent target this year, a significant rise compared to the start of Trump’s first presidency.

Remembering Trump’s mercurial character, it is of course possible that as president he might actually pull the US out of Nato, though that would require Congressional approval. His then National Security Adviser, John Bolton, said he came close to doing so back in 2018. But even if that does happen, Trump-driven increased spending in Europe will have already made the world a safer place. Combined with greater military capability, the political will demonstrated by making hard choices on defence expenditure in a tough economic climate will act as the most effective deterrent against aggression.

Donald Trump has saved Nato – and the West

Alliance members are increasing defence spending precisely because they fear he will pull out

www.telegraph.co.uk

- In the end Trump saved the world!