Europe's Shrinking Defense Budgets

Shrinking Europe Military Spending Stirs Concern -- New York Times

BRUSSELS — Alarmed by years of cuts to military spending, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, issued a dire public warning to European nations, noting that together they had slashed $45 billion, or the equivalent of Germany’s entire military budget, endangering the alliance’s viability, its mission and its relationship with the United States.

That was two years ago. Since then, with the Afghan war winding down and pressure from the European Union to limit budget deficits, Europe has only cut deeper.

Now, as President Obama wrestles with his own huge budget deficit and military costs, the responsibility for keeping NATO afloat has fallen disproportionately onto the United States, an especially untenable situation as priorities shift to Asia.

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My Comment: In my lifetime I have seen Europe become morally, politically, and economically bankrupted. The will to even consider defending their borders and to have .... at best .... a military that can function at a minimum has vanished. i can understand why this sentiment prevails throughout Europe. There are no serious external threats. The U.S. will come to their assistance if a crisis should occur. And .... more importantly .... they want to spend their money on their social programs and agendas.

Update: Doug Bandow at Forbes is probably right .... "NATO's lack of any serious purpose means it should retire".