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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow come I'm just now finding this out???? (NATO)
Today on NPR, Tamryn Keith explained that the member NATO countries had all pledged to increase their OWN DEFENSE BUDGETs to 2% of their GDP OVER THE COURSE OF TEN YEARS. They're 3 years into that project!!!! Right now The Newshour is also explaining that.
Until today I and my hubby both had assumed that the NATO countries were in arrears with some sort of dues to NATO. Huh????
We pay attention. We're pretty smart. NATO wasn't at the top of our interests. We didn't investigate. Do other people feel let down by the MSM???? Way back through the primaries??????????
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Trump isn't some kind of goddamn mafia loanshark collector, even though he's desperate to play up that role so he can feel like a big man...
Nevermind the fact that it's not like Trump or the U.S. was ever getting the money anyway -- It all goes into a pot... And there's no collecting of past due underpayments or whatever... Each year is a clean slate.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)whenever there was a "fact check" of what Trump said in a debate (or on the campaign trail). Member nations contribute a portion to their defense budgets, and they are working toward their goals. They don't owe "us" a penny. It was discussed quite a few times, even in mainstream media, that what Trump kept saying was NOT how it works.
LAS14
(13,769 posts).... all the nations "behind" in what they "owed," with not a whisper of correction from the reporting organization.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)But then I don't watch cable shows (which I don't consider "news" . I basically watch only PBS NewsHour and read several newspapers (NYT, WaPo, and less so my local paper). And of course read a number of solid Internet sites (Vox, TPM). I wouldn't have known anything about NATO membership without having had it reported at the time. So I know I heard it.
LAS14
(13,769 posts)I guess that explains it.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)Trump was asked about the NATO alliance. He repeated his criticism that the other members of the 28-nation defense alliance do not pay their fair share.
"We pay approximately 73% of the cost of NATO, that's a lot of money to protect other people," he said.
The US actually only pays about 22% of NATO's operational budget; member states' contributions to NATO's organizational budget is proportionate to their respective gross national income. But the NATO budget only funds the civil budget, military budget and the Security Investment Program. This is a relatively small portion of national defense spending by all the countries, with the entire budget being slightly more than $2 billion. The US contribution to NATO's direct funding is less than 1% of the US defense budget.
...
Trump is likely referring to the US share of defense spending among NATO countries -- that number is indeed 73%. The imbalance is due in part to the fact that only five NATO members meet the NATO recommendation that each country spend 2% of its GDP on defense, and the US GDP is significantly larger than all the other NATO members.
...
NATO's official statement on indirect funding says, "This does not mean that the United States covers 73% of the costs involved in the operational running of NATO as an organization, including its headquarters in Brussels and its subordinate military commands, but it does mean that there is an over-reliance by the Alliance as a whole on the United States for the provision of essential capabilities, including for instance, in regard to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; air-to-air refueling; ballistic missile defense; and airborne electronic warfare."
Because Trump says the phrase "73% of the cost of NATO" in his comments, and because that number does not reflect actual US direct spending on the alliance, and because the number captures US defense spending not-related to NATO, this is an inaccurate description of the cost of NATO.
Verdict: False.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/politics/fact-check-presidential-debate/
PS: Sanders made the same claim in one of his debates with Clinton, and has been against NATO for some time: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/apr/19/bernie-s/sanders-oversimplifies-us-share-NATO/
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)So it's not like Trump himself has not heard the truth. He either doesn't understand or doesn't want to believe it.
nikibatts
(2,198 posts)Worktodo
(288 posts)Trump constantly talks about NATO like it's a trust fund. Nobody "pays into" NATO. And the MSM doesn't do a good job pushing back on what is a fundamental falsehood.
Worktodo
(288 posts)Article 5 of the treaty is mutual defense, and it's only been invoked once-- on 9/11. Trump was there with the others for the opening of the new NATO headquarters and dedication of an "Article 5 Memorial" (made with steel from the Twin Towers) and he made cheap shots about how much the new headquarters building cost and didn't formally endorse Article 5...
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/05/trump-declines-to-affirm-natos-article-5/528129/?google_editors_pick=true