Message #2407

[AndrewF]

That is a bit disingenuous Andy. In Europe we put a far smaller part of GDP  into defence than the USA do - something like half.
Now personally I believe that is right - in fact I think we still spend *more* than we should on this - but what the USA are quite rightly saying is that if we want them to continue as before then we have to be prepared to pull our weight to the same extent that they do in * %age * terms, which is a reasonable comment. On top of that there are political problems with whether EU countries contribute just cash or troops and if the later whether they are fully combat-trained and -hardened or simply support personnel. Add to that the fact that the North Atlantic threat is no longer  major problem 9since the break-up of the USSR) and you begin to wonder if NATO actually *does* still have any legs...