Europe’s pledge to spend more on military will hurt climate and social programmes | NATO spending plan overlooks risks to security posed by environmental breakdown and social decay, say economists

From the article: Europe risks choosing militarism over social and environmental security, economists have warned, as the head of Nato said all 32 members had agreed to increase weapons spending.

Analyses drafted in anticipation of a Nato summit beginning on Tuesday warned of the opportunity cost that higher military spending would pose to the continent’s climate mitigation and social programmes, which are consistently underfunded.

The alliance’s leading member, the US, and its Dutch secretary general, Mark Rutte, expect members to agree to proposals to dramatically raise defence spending targets from 2% to 5% of GDP.

But critics say the focus on military spending, which comes on top of big increases by European countries over the past few years, overlooks the risks to security posed by environmental breakdown and social decay.

“Europe’s public finance debate has never been about what we can afford, but what governments choose to prioritise,” said Sebastian Mang, senior policy officer at the New Economics Foundation (NEF).

“Having already committed to higher defence budgets, plans to raise spending even further expose the double standard applied to investment in climate, housing and care.

“If extraordinary sums can be mobilised for the military, with far lower economic returns and much lower social benefits, then the refusal to fund a just transition and stronger public services is clearly political, not economic.”

Yeah, that ship has sailed.

America has set the world on fire, now Deep Adaptation to the realities of catastrophic climate change and thinking about a world for the survivors is the only thing left on the table.

The societal vandalism of this american administration means we have to focus on building up strength to defend ourselves – not only without America, but FROM America.

For anyone wondering why we have such severe issues in the U.S., it’s because a whole lot of our money goes into military spending instead of social programs, climate, clean air, clean water, and non-toxic food. The irony is that the least amount of our military spending goes to military veterans.

As a civilized country, our society is messed up, and the rest of the world should proceed with caution so as not to end up like us.

Edit: Clarification.

Given the situation with Russia, prioritising national defence now seems necessary, even if we have to cut other areas. However, we should only cut other areas after we cut tax breaks & subsidies to corporations and ultra high net worth individuals and make them pay a fair rate of tax. If we’re all in the same boat, the ultra rich/top 0.1% need to contribute a fair share and not place the tax burden on the working & middle classes.

Why does Europe need to increase defense spending? What is the threat? Russia is a failed state, with a GDP the size of Italy, and deteriorating daily. There is no reason to increase spending. What Europe needs to do is focus on self reliance in defense and rid themselves of American influence.

Europe has long and in vain relied on the US and the relative peace in the region, allowing its army to become unprepared. This is the result of Europe being forced to urgently catch up with these expenses. All this talk about how the army is a waste of money is a naive dream of a world without external enemies. And there are quite a few of them. My opinion is that Europe should triple its defense budget and really prepare for war even if it does not happen. Because otherwise the world will continue to go to hell geopolitically.

This just reinforces the false idea that countries can either fund social programs or the military, when it cna be both.

And it further supports the argument that Americans are ultimately footing the bill for European social progress.

What do you want from them? They’ve been carrying the torch on trying to save the planet only to have the US backpedal and begin to literally threaten to attack them. What else are they supposed to do?

Man, if only we could find a way to wrap climate action in the flag. It would go such a long way.

if we continue to take away more from those that need it most, we won’t need an army to defend us from Russia. Democracy will end itself by the will of the people. shit, it’s already happening ffs. 

I’d prefer to be hurt by the environment rather than be hurt by Putin.

Yeah, they could’ve just looked at the United States as a cautionary tale.