by Karl Müller
The US demand that Germany should also take over military leadership is not meaning well for the Germans. This demand is a step towards the abyss.
In 2017 the NATO states have spent $975 billion for military expenditures.1 Of this nearly $1 trillion, $707.2 billion were spent by the North American NATO states (US and Canada), $610 billion by the US alone. $249.8 billion were spent by the European NATO states. For 2018 substantial increases are announced. In 2017 Russia has spent $66.7 billion for its military, 2.2% less than in the previous year. In 2018 Russia’s military spending will decrease further.2 This means that Russia’s military only received 7% (!) of the joint military spending of all NATO states, only 30% of the military spending of the European NATO states.
No reason for NATO military build-up
This renders incomprehensible the pressure on all NATO states to increase their military spending to at least 2%, a pressure that has been applied for years and has always been justified with the alleged Russian threat. Russia’s arms efforts are not directed towards coming equal with NATO – the Russian President has repeatedly emphasised that he would not repeat the Soviet Union’s deadly mistake – but to be armed sufficiently to make a NATO attack on Russia a deadly risk.
The permanently repeated assertion that Russia has aggressive intentions as had been demonstrated in Georgia, the Ukraine and Syria does not stand up to scrutiny. Constant repetition does not make this allegation more correct.
Aggressive NATO intentions
Hence we have to assume that the motivation for demanding higher armament spending are either aggressive intentions, that more influence and income are to be provided for the military-industrial complex or that the citizens of the NATO states are meant to be disciplined by the militarisation of their countries in face of growing internal problems. It may well be a combination of all three points.
It is a fact that the “elites” of the NATO states still deem their model of politics, economy and society as the best in the world and that they have the wish to impose this model, at least in the long run, on the world. This kind of ambitions is alien to the Russian leadership. The country would be sufficiently busy with its internal issues and most likely its biggest wish is to be able to turn towards these tasks with all its energy.