US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised NATO's eastern member states, including Estonia, for contributing to their defense, while at the same time criticizing wealthy Western European countries, which he said rely mainly on US forces for their security.
"Many of our allies in NATO do not do enough to provide for their own security. Every other president has made the same complaint, Trump has just actually been serious about it and that's what he's pointing to. In fairness, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, the closer you are to Russia, the more they're spending as a percentage of their GDP on national defense, but then you have countries like France or you have countries like Germany, these are big economies, powerful economies and they don't spend as much on national security, they rely on NATO. They say, that we don't need to spend that much on defense because America has soldiers here and they'll be our national defense, so we can instead spend all that money on this enormous social safety net.
When you ask those countries why can't you spend more on national security, their argument is because it would require us to make cuts to welfare programs, to unemployment benefits, to being able to retire at 59 and all these other things. That's a choice they made, but what we're subsidizing. I think if you articulate the president's point on NATO, number one, they need to do more."
Rubio also spoke about Finland, which he said is a very capable ally that produces its own weapons and contributes to the alliance.
"We want NATO in which we have strong and capable allies like Finland, a very capable ally, they make weapons, they bring something to the table, we need more countries like that to behave in that manner in the alliance and then it'll be a stronger alliance."
Rubio acknowledges Estonia's defense contributions, rips into Western Europeans
Eestlased USAs | 31 Jan 2025 | EWR OnlineEWR
Eestlased USAs
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