No. of Recommendations: 1
Apparently, Russia changed most minds. Our NATO allies have stepped-up their military spending substantially, and it's all due to Russia (neither Biden nor Trump).Sure about that? The German model in particular has always been to defend Germany down to the last Pole:
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/new...NATO members pledged back in 2014 they would spend 2% of their GDP on defence. However, in 2022, only seven countries met the pledge. As such, Stoltenberg has been calling for all military allies to increase their spending....and those 7 were:
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/new...The seven include Estonia (2.12%), Greece (3,54%), Latvia (2.07%), Lithuania (2.47%), Poland (2.42%), the United Kingdom (2.16%), and the United States (3.46%).
In stark contrast, Europe's largest economies ' Germany (1.49%), Italy (1.51%), and France (1.89%) ' fall notably short of the 2% target.So, no. The europeans STILL aren't taking their obligations seriously even in light of Putin's Ukrainian invasion.
Because of China, the Philippines have invited us to share a base in their country. Again, neither Biden nor Trump made that happen. External forces did. I don't think a POTUS could affect policy that much in other countries, in general. Fear works, and there is a lot of that lately with Putin and Xi.Trump started the diplomacy along those lines and to his credit Biden got us some basing rights in 4 (IIRC) locations in the Philipenes. The Chinese are still making inroads into other places in the Southwest Pacific, but this coupled with the Port Moresby deals are a start. To your point, having the Chinese run the Philippine Coast Guard out of the Spratlys and build an air base there definitely got the PI's attention.
