Expeditionary warfare, with small professional troops and equipment to fit the crisis management tasks, was NATO’s post-Cold War doctrine. Led and implemented by the US.
Europeans should have done more since 2014 but complaining about the small size of European militaries is a bad faith argument.
Europeans should have done more since 2014 but complaining about the small size of European militaries is a bad faith argument.
Reposted from
Helene von Bismarck
I am really quite exhausted by the idea that the US has extended its security umbrella to Europe since ww2 out of the goodness of their hearts. Yes, Europe should have done more, especially over the last two decades, but let‘s not pretend that US foreign policy was always motivated by altruism.
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Australia spent a lot (mainly on US built arms) to build a small bespoke military to follow the USA into various foreign conflicts. Our army is smaller now than in 2001, despite higher spending!
Sweden brought back conscription in 2014 and they manage now to train about 7k conscripts annually.
It took until 2024 for civil conscription into the fire service to be reintroduced.
It takes a long time to build the system up again. Starting now is at least 5 years too late.
https://www.ft.com/content/49f9a7f7-f45c-4ecf-a500-fe1240a78091