In the past several days, I have participated in a number of forums regarding the war in Ukraine. One of the recurring remarks from those who are clearly on the political left is “How much damage did Trump do to the NATO Alliance?” Let’s recall that early in the Trump Administration, he travelled to NATO and informed them in no uncertain terms that they were late in paying their NATO bills and some countries, like Germany, were failing to meet their basic financial obligations to the alliance.
For those of you who are not aware of the membership requirements for being in NATO, each country must spend 2% of their GDP on defense. Equipment, people and training --- that is the minimum commitment. When Trump arrived on the scene, Germany was spending less than 1% of their GDP on defense while spending $20 Billion on the gas pipeline from Russia.
And it was not just that Germany was lagging behind. It was their clear expectation that the US would make up for what they did not contribute --- after all, the US was spending well over 8% of its GDP on defense. Therefore, it was assumed that US soldiers and equipment would be used to defend Germany. So, why bother spending money on defense? Uncle Sam will save the day and besides, Germany had a pipeline to finish.
Here is what the Chief of Staff of the German Army had to say about Germany’s military readiness … as reported in the Taiwan News on February 25, 2022 …
A top general of the German Army, Alfons Mais, sent shock waves through social media on Thursday when he posted an unusually frank appraisal on his LinkedIn page: "You wake up in the morning and realize: There is war in Europe. … In my 41st year of service in peace, I would not have believed I would have to experience war. And the Bundeswehr, the army that I have the duty to lead, is more or less bare."
Mais was openly addressing something Bundeswehr officers have been complaining about for many years: Germany has been neglecting its ability to defend its country and its partners. Instead, the German military has been focused on the sometimes-controversial foreign missions in Afghanistan and in Mali.
Allow me to add some perspective to the General’s comments. I served in NATO … in Germany … for nine of my 23 years of Army service in both the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Armored Division. During both tours, I had the opportunity to work side-by-side with the soldiers of the German army. And I can tell you that if we had been required to go to war through the ‘70s and ‘80s, I would have been proud to fight alongside the armored units of the Bundeswehr. General Mais says he served for 41 years – that would have put the start of his service in the early 1980s and he would have seen and served in the German Army that I served alongside during the “Cold War”!
My last tour in Germany ended in 1986. When I left Germany, their army could field 3,000 combat ready Main Battle Tanks. The US had about the same number ready to go at a moment’s notice. We practiced moving to our alert positions unannounced on a regular basis. In my last year, the US had completed the fielding of a whole new tank called the M1 – the most advanced Main Battle Tank on the European continent.
The third major contributor to NATO defense was Britain. They had fielded 2,500 Main Battle Tanks with training that matched both the US and Germany. NATO was a competent fighting force --- and as we know from history, the Russians folded and the Cold War was won by the West. Or was it?
It was not many years after declaring the Cold War over that the Germans began divesting themselves of their tanks and artillery --- selling much of their equipment off to other countries like Greece. You would have thought that they would begin a program to start replacing their tanks and artillery and aging jet fighters with newer modern equipment … and sometimes improvements were made, but they never replaced the numbers that were depleted. Only a few short years ago, the German Army reported having some 150 Main Battle Tanks in their entire force and of the 150 they had, only 98 were combat ready. Today, they report that they have 266 Main Battle Tanks --- but no report on how many of them have combat ready crews.
The US maintains a fleet of approximately 4,000 modernized M1A2 SEPv3 tanks with about 3,600 pre-positioned in NATO as of Feb ‘22… Germany has only 266 Leopard 2’s.
In February of 2022, Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine. This sent a clear signal to the NATO Alliance that they had better increase their readiness. But when the Germans looked at their army … well General Mais has already told us what he saw … and what he saw was the very thing that Donald Trump saw in 2017.
Since the Trump Administration exposed the situation in NATO and in Germany, in particular, things have improved marginally. But the truth is that Germany is still not paying what it should and the re-equipping of its military has not been carried out expeditiously.
There has also been a change in leadership in Germany and with the attack on Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has agreed to begin immediately to increase the pace for acquiring new equipment. However, the draft for the 2022 federal budget, as presented by the Finance Minister, had in fact been planned to lower the Bundeswehr budget again in the next few years. But in view of the war in Ukraine, Scholz’s party, the neoliberal Free Democrats, has now also called for a defense budget increase.
So, don’t believe those liberal talking points about Trump destroying NATO. Because of the actions he took in 2017 -- shaking up NATO’s member states … informing them that they had to pay what they agreed to … and letting them know that the US was not going to be their Sugar Daddy any longer – the Alliance is stronger. And while member states like Germany still have a long way to go to meet their full obligations to the treaty, it appears things are moving in the right direction.
Trump was right and NATO is better off for it today.