Ever since his first administration, US President Donald J. Trump has made a point to pressure the European powers to dramatically increase their defense spending.
Trump faced widespread resistance to his demands, but after the onset of the war in the Ukraine, the defense landscape is totally changed: now, most NATO countries promise significant defense budget increases, and some have actually raised their spending.
So yesterday (31), as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, he found a very different audience.
The Guardian reported:
“[Hegseth] said Donald Trump’s administration had pushed European countries to boost their defensive spending, taking on a greater ‘burden’ of responding to conflicts in their region, and it was time for Asian nations to do the same.
Hegseth, who in March was revealed to have told a Signal group chat that Europe was ‘pathetic’ and ‘freeloading’ on US security support in the region, told the Singapore conference it was ‘hard to believe’ he was now saying this, but Asian countries should ‘look to allies in Europe as a newfound example’.”
Needless to say, every time any Trump administration Official opens their mouth about any topic, they are met with a shower of criticism and ridicule from the USAID-media – and Secretary Hegseth is one of their preferred targets, especially if he is criticizing the Globalists from the EU.
But surprisingly, EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas took a much more positive stance, saying that, in the end, ‘Tough love’ is better than no love.
Politico reported:
“’It’s love nonetheless, so it’s better than no love’, Kaja Kallas told reporters on Saturday at a defense forum in Singapore. ‘You heard his speech. He was actually quite positive about Europe, so there’s definitely some love there’, she said.”
“Hegseth previously told delegates at the Singapore conference that ‘we’re pushing our allies in Europe to own more of their own security — to invest in their defense. Thanks to President Trump, they are stepping up’, Hegseth said. He described Poland and the Baltic States as ‘model allies’.
Pointing to divisions within Europe over military spending, Kallas said ‘some of us have realized a long time ago that we need to invest in defense’.”
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