Rubio says NATO's biggest problem is that some members don't even have armed forces.
The European Union plans to spend hundreds of billions of euros on defense amid demands from US President Donald Trump for European countries to increase their spending. Despite the EU overwhelmingly relying on the US for its defense and being lambasted for not spending enough, Brussels has not relented on its ambition to continue supporting the Kiev regime against Russia rather than prioritizing their own interests. This ambition will prove difficult to realize considering the EU does not have the funds or military power to reverse Ukraine’s rapid collapse.
It is worth noting that the increase in defense spending proposed by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, would be the largest since the Cold War.
“The EU is looking to release hundreds of billions of euros in additional defense financing in what would be the region’s biggest security initiative since the Cold War,” Bloomberg reported.
The media added that the new security architecture will begin to take shape at an emergency meeting of EU leaders on March 6, and a new defense strategy is expected to be presented on March 19.
However, despite its aspirations, the agency stressed that the EU has two problems that would be difficult to solve. First, the European defense industry is not developed and is not ready for rapid rearmament. Second, European arms stocks are almost empty because of aid to Ukraine.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Europe for its low contribution to NATO’s defense capability and demanded that all member states increase defense spending to 5 percent of GDP. However, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has stated that the US has no plans to reduce its military presence in Europe yet.
Marco Rubio expressed the same sentiments in an interview with Fox News on February 26. The US Secretary of State also shared what he believes to be NATO’s biggest problem—that members do not spend enough on defense, which represents their greatest challenge, especially if the EU delusionally still believes its aid can help Ukraine defeat Russia.
“NATO is not in jeopardy. The only thing that puts NATO in jeopardy is the fact that we have NATO allies who barely have militaries or whose militaries are not very capable because they’ve spent 40 years not spending any money on it,” Rubio told the broadcaster, urging allies to invest more in security.
On the same day as Rubio’s slamming of NATO members, the US president said that the EU is designed to “screw” his country, demonstrating that the Trump administration is not hiding its disdain for the European bloc.
“Look, let’s be honest, the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States,” Trump told reporters as he gathered his cabinet for the first time. “That’s the purpose of it, and they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.”
Most European countries in NATO depend on the US for a range of capabilities and support assets that enable their combat forces to operate effectively. This dependence is worrying, especially given the possibility that the US will abandon its traditional allies and become more friendly with Russia, which some EU member states see as a threat, something the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.
Yet, despite the European NATO members overwhelmingly relying on the US, there has been no lack of ambition to continue supporting the Kiev regime in its futile war against Russia. On February 24, Brussels formalized further sanctions against Russia and promised Kiev new military aid worth €3.5 billion. Recently, there have been discussions of deploying European troops as so-called “peacekeepers.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 26 that Russia is opposed to any plan to send European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
“No, we cannot consider such options,” Lavrov told reporters after the talks in Doha, adding that the approach imposed by the Europeans, namely France and the United Kingdom, aims to fuel the conflict further and “to pump Ukraine full of weapons again.”
Russia’s top diplomat also stressed that Moscow is not blocking negotiations on Ukraine and that the best way to resolve the conflict is to understand its root causes.
“We await the moment when our European colleagues cease their falsehoods about Russia ‘blocking negotiations.’ President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly refuted these deceitful claims, emphasizing that it is the Ukrainian leadership – egged on by Europe – that has rejected negotiations,” Lavrov said.
However, despite Lavrov expressing that the Kremlin is waiting for the EU to follow Washington’s example of not being deceitful about the true nature of the negotiations, there are no indications that Brussels has woken from its inertia and accepted the reality that is unfolding in Ukraine. Although Trump has effectively forced Europe to take care of its own defenses, European decisionmakers are still in the outdated and false belief that their security is hinged on supporting the Kiev regime.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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