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dipsydoodle

(42,239 posts)
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 03:25 PM Jun 2014

US presses Nato members to increase defence spending

One tour group stood out among the mainly elderly guests crowded into the Radisson Hotel close to Riga's Old Town. It was not just that their breakfast plates in the vast restaurant were piled much higher than anyone else's, but that all 100-plus of them were dressed in US army camouflage.

The Americans were part of a US-led multinational force engaged in a large-scale military exercise in Latvia. More such groups can be expected in the months ahead as Nato ramps up its presence in an effort to reassure Latvia and other Baltic states nervous over Russia's actions in the Ukraine.

The US is calling on Nato members to increase defence spending by billions of pounds to revive the 28-member alliance in the face of a renewed threat from its oldest adversary.

With Russia and the Ukraine situation topping the agenda of a Nato foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, US defence officials want every Nato member to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defence. At present, according to Nato data, only four countries do: the US, Britain, Greece and Estonia.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/us-nato-members-increase-defence-spending

Fuck off comes to mind.

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US presses Nato members to increase defence spending (Original Post) dipsydoodle Jun 2014 OP
Good. Everyone needs to ante up. TwilightGardener Jun 2014 #1
We're having our biggest sale of the year on munitions, buy now! DJ13 Jun 2014 #2
I'm fine with this, as long as KamaAina Jun 2014 #3
Decrease ours and they can do as they will. TheKentuckian Jun 2014 #4
And I say, decrease US Defense spending from the high fifties nadinbrzezinski Jun 2014 #5
 

nadinbrzezinski

(154,021 posts)
5. And I say, decrease US Defense spending from the high fifties
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 05:03 PM
Jun 2014

to the high thirties, while everybody else picks up some of the slack.

In fact the FY 2014 proposed budget is exactly that.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSvq2GRBHFaEhs-9QLfCvwvVU6dXpnEk5Ssd1ZZCZ8K41mLY5Uvlg

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