BUDGET/FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/NATO: “Fewer than half of NATO’s 29 members have made plans to reach the alliance’s military-spending target, according to allied officials.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is expected to announce Tuesday [2-13-18] that European military spending continues to rise. But the overall increase obscures the reality that many allies haven’t adopted plans, as they agreed to do last year at the insistence of the U.S., to increase such spending to the long-established alliance benchmark of 2% of their economic output. Accentuating the shortfall, Washington plans to announce another increase in American defense spending in Europe. The U.S. will likely propose a spending increase of about $1 billion above the current annual $4.8 billion in military expenditure in Europe, according to people briefed on the plans.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will address NATO defense ministers on Wednesday in Brussels and is expected to acknowledge the progress at increasing spending but say more is expected, allied officials said. At the urging of the Trump administration last spring, NATO demanded allies submit spending plans by the end of 2017 outlining how each country planned to reach the 2% spending target by 2024.”
-Julian E.. Barnes, “Despite U.S. Push, Most NATO Allies Fail to Fulfill Military-Spending Goals,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 9, 2018 01:19pm