Part 3/11:
To understand the dynamics, let's examine the financial statistics: the U.S. alone covers nearly half of NATO’s total defense budget, earmarking about $968 billion for defense in 2024. This staggering amount surpasses the combined defense spending of all other NATO member countries. Despite increased military spending among European nations after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a significant gap in military spending persists. In 2021, prior to the war, the U.S. shouldered approximately 70% of NATO expenses, with many European nations failing to meet the NATO spending goal of 2% of their GDP.