That is right and do you know why it was centered their? Because Europe was bordered with the USes rival, the USSR.
Recomendation and Reguirement are not the same thing, and the US does not nothing because really their is nothing they can do about it, except threaten to leave and the US needs those European bases for Force Projection. Lower paying members are not violating the NATO treaty, no matter how long you want to milk that cow.If it is recommended it is pretty much a requirement obligation for NATO or else that country is free loading. The reason why the U.S. doesn't punish is because they realize European nations do not have the stomach to increase spending for military.
It is the 9th most funded Armed Force in the world and even with lower GDP% spending overall still spends more then other countries. Tiny yes for a country of Germanies Economic strength.Germany's military force is tiny and not well funded.
And numbers are not everything. You have to compare logistics needed to keep the tank Combat ready, Armour, Weaponry, Crew Numbers and Trainning.Skill doesn't matter much when it comes to tank warfare in my opinion, because numbers is what matters more. If you compare the number of main battle tanks that Western European nations have versus Eastern European nations you are in a surprise.
Lets take for example Americas Wet dream comes through and the Russia morphs into the USSR and sends tanks throughout Eastern Europe. How many of those build tanks are Combat Operational? How many properly trainned Personnel can Man them? Do they have the logistic capability to keep them armed, supplied and repaired on a offensive?
Greece is broke because they kept electing Officials who made to many promises, were living above their means and have hiding from the Taxman as a national sport. Greece is to blame for Greece.The wealth is a side of effect of investing in other endeavors not involved in military budgets. Once military investments must be increased that wealth will diminish and it will hamper European economy. This is one of the reasons why Greece is broke as an example, because lets be honest did Greece need that many main battle tanks given its geographical location?
Securing the borders would just be one goal of this Army.Europe can not even agree to secure borders and you don't need an army to do that anyways.
Seems to be good enough for Germany. What Combat operations are they involved in? Afghanistan, Mali alongside France, Lithuania, the Turkish border. Parts of the ME doing reconisance for Forces fighting ISIS. Then lets not forget the STRATAIRMEDEVAC wich is a Air Ambulance service for Allied Soldiers who are wounded.Germany is ranked 9th and has nothing to show for it for a fighting force that can project, mobilize, etc. It is pretty much a paper tiger, but even looking at their numbers they are severely lacking compared to smaller countries like Israel, Greece, etc.
So lets say they were to increase power projection, were to exactly? West, East, North, South are all Allies. Maybe they should reach out further towards Russia or as Germany calls it one of its largest trading partners? Maybe further and go hate boner on another large trading partner China?
What rivals does Germany have that it needs to be able to project power worldwide?
http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Golgafrincham
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Damnit, you were faster
-=Z=- Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek! -=Z=-
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America's "wet dream" is Russia disappears, not that it starts a war.
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Its not Continental Europe, which is how he was looking at it.
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Depends on how you view "Continental Europe" vs "Europe".
EU needs an army, if only so that people here in the US can stop using "we spend so much money defending the world with our army!" As an excuse for why we can't have single payer health care, higher minimum wage, more government jobs to fix infrastructure, etx.
"We can't afford to give our country the benefits most first world nations enjoy, we're too busy playing world police."
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