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| Europe |
| NATO: Our International Welfare Queens |
| 2022-04-01 |
| [MISES] American policy makers have shown a surprising amount of sanity so far in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While some war enthusiasts among the American punditry have certainly been agitating for World War III, the leadership in both the White House and Congress has repeatedly and straightforwardly refused most calls to escalate the conflict. Unfortunately, a number of foreign parliaments among the US's NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) "partners" have not been nearly as hesitant to escalate matters. Among the most reckless on this issue have been lawmakers from a number of Eastern European states. For example, policymakers in the Baltics in recent weeks have called for a no-fly zone in Ukraine. Newsweek reported this month: Lithuania's parliament unanimously approved a resolution calling for a no-fly zone over Ukraine—joining other NATO members Estonia and Slovenia in the appeal. Rihards Kols, chairman of the Latvian parliament's foreign affairs committee, also announced [on March 17] his country is calling for such a zone. But here's the problem: a so-called no-fly zone would be a de facto declaration of war on Russia by NATO. Moreover, when we say "by NATO," we mostly mean "by the United States." At around the same time, the Polish regime began its own scheme to escalate the war and bring the US into direct conflict with Moscow. Warsaw, apparently without consulting Washington, hatched a plan to send fighter jets to Ukraine via US military bases and then have the US "backfill" Poland's air force with F-16s. This would have constituted a significant escalation as well, and was fortunately quashed by the White House. This sort of behavior that free rides on the American taxpayer has become an identifiable pattern with countries that see themselves as benefiting enormously from US military spending but who contribute next to nothing to US security or even to the NATO alliance. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #2 When you've got a drunken moron spending his money like water, you're a fool if you don't catch some in a basin. Me, I prefer doing things that are productive toward my own long-term goals rather than getting distracted by trying to catch “free” money, which ends up with little money and no progress. But I admit to being hopelessly bourgeois, and therefore suspicious of the purpose of welfare spending of all sorts. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2022-04-01 20:08 |
| #1 Why wouldn't they be in favor of someone else doing the fighting and dying for them? It's an entirely rational policy. Just look at our elites in DC who also think the same way. None of them are in the military, so who cares when C-141s full of coffins come back from their latest war? When you've got a drunken moron spending his money like water, you're a fool if you don't catch some in a basin. Of course they're free-riding on us. They love it! They have an idiot to pay for their defense! |
| Posted by: Omomolet Phutch9064 2022-04-01 03:13 |