Due to the sheer brilliance of Vladimir Putin
by sprack (2024-02-26 11:52:41)
Edited on 2024-02-26 12:07:43

In reply to: Hungary's legislature has voted for Sweden's NATO ascension  posted by fontoknow

Cannot Reply Return to Political

The only parts of the Baltic Sea not under NATO control is the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and the coast of the Kaliningrad Oblast.

When we were kids we had the album of the music from the movie "Hans Christian Andersen". In one of the songs "Wonderful Copenhagen", Danny Kaye sings a couple great lines for geography nerds like me:

I sailed up the Skagerrak
And sailed down the Kattegat

The Russian Navy (surface ships, at least) won't be able to do that anymore.

Until the United States pulls out of NATO
by vermin05  (2024-02-26 12:39:56)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Which again, is a stated position of a presidential candidate.
It seems many of our NATO allies are sufficiently worried...
by Brahms  (2024-02-26 12:54:45)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

...they are getting their acts together on defense expenditures; the spate of recent donations to Ukraine are telling as well. There was an early report today of possibility of stationing NATO troops in Ukraine.

Our allies-for-now are wagering that both Putin and Trump are batshit nuts.

Good.
by krudler  (2024-02-26 13:02:06)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Many of our European allies have acted more in a free rider capacity over the years, so it's good they're stepping up, even if the reason is a crazy one. Not to mention there is a limit to how much we can spend on our own defending these countries, with ~$33T of debt and China constantly threatening a Taiwan invasion.
I think it was less free-riding, and more risk assessment
by fontoknow  (2024-02-26 13:31:05)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Cannot reply

Until 2022, most of our Western European allies did not percieve a realistic threat of a land war on the continent.

Everybody reduced defense spending, including the US as a result of the collapse of the soviet union. We had 594 active navy ships in 1987. We currently have 299 deployable combat vessels. Similar declines have occured in the air force and the arm.

The creation of the euro zone, with the ECB restrictions on debt may have also contributed to the reduction of defense spending in some countries.