Europe

[Vladimir]

well, it is obviously not everyone's priority and i don't presume to lecture other countries, but i believe it should be among Britain's priorities.

the NATO minimum is 2.0% of GDP, but not many NATO countries even bother with that much.

I'm not lecturing anyone but if there were no U.S. forces in Europe, European defense needs would dramatically increase. You're citing NATO standards. I'm talking about national standards.

Does the presence of US forces in Europe help or hinder the creation of a unified Europe?

[Furunculus]

I'm not lecturing anyone but if there were no U.S. forces in Europe, European defense needs would dramatically increase. You're citing NATO standards. I'm talking about national standards.

Does the presence of US forces in Europe help or hinder the creation of a unified Europe?

i'm not suggesting you are, but nato countries could lecture other nato nations for not living up to their nato obligations.

who knows, who cares, it only matters to those to desire a unified europe.

[Vladimir]

who knows, who cares, it only matters to those to desire a unified europe.

People like me. Hopefully the union will occur slowly over the next 100 years or so. Too many people have tried to unify Europe with military force. Legislative force will fail as well. Integration, openness, and time will bring Europe together.

[Furunculus]

People like me. Hopefully the union will occur slowly over the next 100 years or so. Too many people have tried to unify Europe with military force. Legislative force will fail as well. Integration, openness, and time will bring Europe together.

sounds like a good result.

successful nations adapt and evolve to the situation around them, and who knows, in a hundred years time my two tests may have different answers, but for britain now and the near future there is no point in subsuming into dysfunctional federal europe.

[Samurai Waki]

Got to be a part of the problem if you want to be a part of the solution.

[Furunculus]

sounds catchy, does it actually apply to geo-politics in the specific situation of the UK and the EU?

[Tribesman]

in that case i am a fruitbat too, for believing that the first duty of the sovereign nation state is the defence of the realm, and any government that apportions less than 5% of spending to Defence when we have spent the last fives years fighting two wars is grossly negligent of its duty to the British people. i have zero problems with the aims and ambitions of the UKNDA.

Which nations spend more than 5%?

[Furunculus]

much easier to find comparative figures for defence spending by percentage of GDP, because nations use different proportions of GDP on annual spending.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat.../2034rank.html

the UK is listed 70th, but that is based on 2005 figures when defence spending was around 2.4%, whereas in reality it is about 2.2% today, which given that government spending is ~44% of GDP means that defence represents ~5% of government spending.