They didn’t tolerate it, it was by their design. Why do you think the US put bases everywhere?
Force projection allowed the US to gain tremendous power. They wanted everyone else to be dependent on them. It’s what made them a superpower.
The US President was called by many, “the leader of the free world”. How the fuck do you think they were in that position? It wasn’t because everyone thought they were cool, it was because the US military offered protection in exchange for using the US dollar as reserve currency, the US having a guiding hand in NATO and the UN, the US powering global banking and having a disproportionate amount of control of the world order.
So no. The US never “tolerated” the rest of NATO not paying their target. They actively pursued a position of military dominance in NATO.
And the more recent demands that we start paying more are not some critique of us not keeping up our end of the bargain. It’s a shakedown for protection money.
Not to mention shortsighted and stupid. In one year they burned away the entirety of their soft power. Relationships with them are now viewed as a liability, not a benefit.
that is the one point Trump has on NATO. no one but the USA has fulfilled their obligations on military spending.
fair enough, let’s ramp it up. Lord knows the world is getting more volatile
Let’s not gloss over the fact that the US was just fine with it that way for decades because of the soft power it gave them.
so they tolerated it for a while. should they have tolerated it forever?
doesn’t change the fact that we didn’t hold up our end of the deal
They didn’t tolerate it, it was by their design. Why do you think the US put bases everywhere?
Force projection allowed the US to gain tremendous power. They wanted everyone else to be dependent on them. It’s what made them a superpower.
The US President was called by many, “the leader of the free world”. How the fuck do you think they were in that position? It wasn’t because everyone thought they were cool, it was because the US military offered protection in exchange for using the US dollar as reserve currency, the US having a guiding hand in NATO and the UN, the US powering global banking and having a disproportionate amount of control of the world order.
So no. The US never “tolerated” the rest of NATO not paying their target. They actively pursued a position of military dominance in NATO.
And the more recent demands that we start paying more are not some critique of us not keeping up our end of the bargain. It’s a shakedown for protection money.
Not to mention shortsighted and stupid. In one year they burned away the entirety of their soft power. Relationships with them are now viewed as a liability, not a benefit.