[microtonal]

Although European NATO members have been underspending, it's also a question of 1-2% of what.

For example, UK's ($59.2b) and Germany's ($52.8b) spending alone was almost as much as Russia ($61.7b) [1]. The combined economies of EU Nato members is so much larger than Russia's that even with 1-2% spending, their military spending outnumbers that of Russia by a large margin.

That said, I agree that all NATO countries should spend at least the required 2%.

Just want to counter the wrong impression of military power. Even the European NATO members have vastly more military power than Russia, let alone the full NATO including the US.

Of course, nukes change the equation, but once nukes start getting used, we are all doomed. Furthermore, neither the Russians, Ukrainians, Europeans or Americans want a nuclear war.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_...

[yyyk]

>For example, UK's and Germany's spending alone was almost as much as Russia

A lot of it goes to salaries, so in practice UK and Germany militaries have much less effective spend.