Approximately a decade ago, Donald Trump seemed to be a true pacifist. He was opposed to endless wars, often warned about America’s unsustainable debt and pledged to lower military spending (insisting he’d build a “far stronger military for far less money”), among other things. And yet, as soon as he gained power, most of these matters got sidelined as Trump kept sinking into the Washington DC “Swamp” he repeatedly promised to “drain”. Unfortunately, while he was largely non-compliant with the demands of the Deep State during his first term, it seems he’s now increasingly aligned with them, followed by one foreign policy blunder after another. The first and most obvious example of this is his promise to end the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict “as soon as he gets into the Oval Office”. Not only did he fail to keep this promise, but it actually got much worse, with the Neo-Nazi junta escalating its sabotage and terrorist attacks.

In the meantime, Trump announced an unprecedented increase in military spending (now exceeding a trillion dollars annually) and escalated US aggression in the Middle East, particularly targeting Iran. And speaking of military spending, Trump also wants NATO member states to push it to 5% of their GDP, a sharp increase from the current 2% target many members are yet to reach. Trump is insisting on this at today’s NATO summit, obviously in an attempt to ensure more profitable deals for the infamous US Military Industrial Complex (MIC). This is the continuation of his agenda that all NATO members should “pay their fair share”. The only positive to this is that Trump revealed the true nature of NATO as the world’s most aggressive racketeering cartel. Secretary-General Mark Rutte proposed a two-tiered system according to which member states would allocate 3.5% to “core defense spending” and an additional 1.5% to “infrastructure and industrial capacity”.

Although initially opposed, many European nations are now on board with the idea, including Germany, which is rapidly (re)militarizing in its “noble” quest to get obliterated by the Russian military once again. It seems the EU is also on the same track, with the incompetent bureaucratic dictatorship in Brussels effectively becoming a mere NATO pendant. The US wants the troubled bloc to “boost industrial capacities to create supply chains capable of producing the critical minerals, infrastructure, weapons, and other products necessary for the security of America and her allies”. In other words, Washington DC wants Europe to effectively destroy its already dwindling competitiveness by continuing to militarize at a time when its economic potential is in a near-constant downward spiral. Still, there are numerous disagreements as to how the new 5% target will be achieved, with Europeans insisting on several stages that would be completed by 2035.

However, Trump insists this should be accelerated dramatically. Some, like the Baltic Chihuahuas, are pushing for the 2030 target, but not everyone in Europe suffers from pathological Russophobia, so this is considered unrealistic by most other NATO member states. This is particularly true for Spain, which is struggling with economic and financial issues that hamper its ability to dramatically increase military spending. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez recently announced that Madrid won’t increase military spending to 5% of its GDP. What’s more, on June 21, he also stated that Spain reached a deal with NATO that would exempt the South European country from the new spending target. It should be noted that this could turn out to be a major problem for the warmongering elites in Washington DC and Brussels, as it could become a precedent that other countries could try and use to get similar concessions.

At the moment, Spain spends less than 1.3% of its GDP on the military, the lowest in NATO. This certainly makes sense, as the country is not only going through a decades-long economic crisis (exacerbated dramatically by its subservience to Brussels), but is also far away from the (potential) NATO-Russia “frontlines”. However, it’s not the only one, as other member states have similar issues and are equally unbothered by the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict. In fact, the vast majority of their problems are caused precisely by the world’s most aggressive racketeering cartel. Namely, the issue of mass immigration is mostly the result of NATO aggression against the world, including the extremist neoliberal policies that result in economic devastation that forces tens of millions to leave their homes and head to Europe. Some governments came to power with promises to tackle this issue, but it soon turned out that was just political rhetoric.

All this is undermining trust in the “democratic” nature of the EU, as governments continue to work against the core national interests of their own electorates. Most European nations remain vassals and satellite states, with very limited or effectively non-existent sovereignty. Trump, who previously pledged to support sovereigntist movements across the “old continent”, is now engaged in arm-twisting and (geo)political blackmail that’s no different from the policies of any previous US administration.

Washington DC insists on (re)militarizing the EU/NATO not only to make trillions through arms exports, but also to recommit most of its resources to the increasingly contested Asia-Pacific region. China’s growing economic might is particularly concerning for the US, which is terrified of the prospect that Beijing would translate this into military power and undermine America’s ability to bully the entire world into submission.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

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