by Cesar Jaramillo, Chair of Canadian Pugwash Group
published by the CIPS Blog
With Donald Trump’s recent election victory in the United States, pressures on Canada to boost military spending to meet NATO’s 2% GDP target are bound to intensify. Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members, including Canada, for not contributing “their fair share” to the alliance.
“Simply put, increasing defence expenditures—whether or not they meet the 2% benchmark—does not guarantee security and may even undermine it.
NATO is already exceptionally well armed, and its collective military spending far surpasses that of Russia. The flawed narrative that the alliance is somehow lagging militarily persists largely due to selective use of statistics and rhetoric that emphasize relative percentages over absolute spending levels, which can distort the true picture of the global military balance.”
Read the full blog: here