Leadership: Threats to America
Ezoic
January 8, 2025: Threats to America come in many forms. Some are barely visible, like foreign hackers stealing data, including details on the lives of millions of Americans . This includes employment and financial data as well as medical records. Then there are the international threats, like the possibility of declared or undeclared war with foreigners. The United States declared war on terror in 2001 and since then many victories have been won in what turns out to be an endless war.
Other overseas threats involve nations and coalitions. American politicians are warning their European NATO allies that Europe must assume more responsibility for their own defense. Since the 1950s most European nations have been content with allowing the United States to carry most of the defense load in terms of specialized equipment and combat ready troops as well as warships and combat aircraft. The Americans spend three percent of their GDP on defense each year and European nations agreed to spend two percent. The United States continues to spend three percent but not all of the European nations met their two percent goal. Poland and Finland, which border Russia, did meet the two percent goal but NATO nations further west, like Germany, are only spending 1.5 percent.
This disparity in defense spending was ignored by the United States until that actually a war when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. That was the first major war since 1945 between nations with modern armed forces. This is called a near peer war and it’s costing the United States over a hundred billion dollars in military and economic aid to Ukraine. The Americans have spent more, so far, on Ukrainian aid than was spent on the 2001-2010 war in Afghanistan.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlead/articles/2025010804530.aspx#gsc.tab=0
