Douglas Murray: Europe must step up its own defense spending and deter Putin, Russia from any more invasions

There have always been a lot of jokes about the European military.My favorite is the old one about the Italian tank design that has four reverse gears and one forward gear.The forward gear being in case the enemy should surprise them from the rear.But the truth is that European defense is no joke.

Ever since the end of the Cold War, European countries have treated themselves to the peace dividend by cutting their defense spending.Not least to continue their vast welfare spending.Every American president this century has tried to persuade their European counterparts to up their spending — particularly America’s NATO allies.

Republicans and Democrats have both tried to do it.And they have used different tactics to warn, cajole and threaten.

But still the Europeans have played games with their figures.Beg them to hit a 2% GDP commitment on defense spending and even the countries that do make it will have done so by wrapping in army pensions and other such things to reach the minimum figure.Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 ought to have been the wake-up call that the Europeans needed.

It should have been the moment when they realized their neighborhood just got very serious again.Putting aside the invasion of Ukraine, they could have looked at the Russian incursions into Polish airspace or their sniffing around the Baltic states to realize that Vladimir Putin had to be deterred.And that minimal defense spending would not be the way to deter him.Yet the results have been mixed, to say the least.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the countries nearest to Russia — and most likely to suffer from Putin’s aggression — are spending the most.Poland and the Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — are projected to spend around or over 4% of their GDP on defense this year.Other countries lag far behind.

Spain and Ireland in particular — perhaps because they are furthest from Russia, or perhaps because they are welfare-indebted far-left messes �...