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A comment on Why don't I take military funding? (2004). Parent comment

Re:Why don't I take military funding? (2004) by lostlogin on Wednesday December 26, 2018 @05:32PM (#18765484)
If an allied country is mad keen on military spending and demonstrating their power while you aren’t, why would you spend on your military?

Could this be a factor in how other countries operate?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Why don't I take military funding? (2004) by philwelch on Wednesday December 26, 2018 @08:34PM (#18766507)
It’s not purely a question of spending. There are qualitative differences as well. No US ally has even an approximation of the US nuclear deterrent or the US Navy. Partially as a consequence of this, no US ally can match the quantity, quality, or versatility of American air power.
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Re:Why don't I take military funding? (2004) by manfredo on Wednesday December 26, 2018 @05:47PM (#18765567)
It could be, that's part of why Trump flirted with the idea of making NATO's 2% of GDP military spending target a requirement rather than a general guideline.

However, the fact that the US is the main component of NATO gives the US a lot of leverage over those other countries which is valuable in its own right.

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