NATO’s new Secretary-General Mark Rutte believes that members must reduce spending on social programs to redirect funds into the war effort. Rutte is prepared to spend as if NATO were already at war. Social security programs and pensions must come secondary to the neocon agenda.
“On average, European countries easily spend up to a quarter of their national income on pensions, health and social security systems, and we need only a small fraction of that money to make defense much stronger,” Rutte told MEPs. NATO knows that incoming President Donald Trump will no longer subsidy other member states. Trump is calling on all NATO members to up their spending to 5%, but Rutte believes the best they can muster “will be impressively more than the 2 percent” initial target.
Rutte said it’s crucial to “bring NATO and the EU closer together” as it can no longer rely on the US for unlimited funding. The neocon retirement home refused to meet their obligatory 2% target until recent years on the heels of Trump initially threatening to pull out of the alliance followed by the Russia-Ukraine war. It’s highly unlikely that the organization would be calling for emergency funding if we were looking at a Kamala presidency. Most nations STILL cannot or will not meet their 2% target. These nations never had the pressure of finding funding since the US was always willing to write the check.
“We are not at war, but we are not at peace either,” Rutte commented. No peace is the precise agenda. There could be peace as no allied nation has been threatened. The threats are coming from within the alliance as a fear-mongering tactic. “We are safe now, but not in four or five years,” he said, adding later that if spending doesn’t go up Europeans should “get out your Russian language courses or go to New Zealand.”
The Dutch are familiar with Rutte’s rhetoric. Naturally, no plan was presented, but the people should be aware that politicians are prepared to punish civilians, including those who paid into poorly managed social systems throughout their long, tax-paying lives.