NATO

Great new military spending, Canada. Where’s the money going to come from?

Canada will reach NATO’s defence spending benchmark of 2 per cent of GDP this fiscal year – five years earlier than planned.

That’s according to an announcement on Monday by Prime Minister Mark Carney. The move is timely and necessary in an unstable world.

Ottawa is upping this year’s budget for the Department of National Defence by $9.3-billion. That and existing spending from other departments will push defence-related expenditure to $62.7-billion for 2025-26 – 2 per cent of GDP, as per the requirements of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, NATO

Do We Really Want NATO Countries to Spend More on Weapons?

For decades, the bedrock rationale for NATO’s existence has been the formidable conventional and nuclear threat Russia posed. However, recent geopolitical realities necessitate a critical re-evaluation of this foundational premise.

Russia, the very reason for NATO’s enduring vigilance, increasingly reveals itself as a waning power. Its protracted and costly war against Ukraine has demonstrably exposed severe limitations in military capability, logistical resilience, and strategic foresight. Despite its historical might and nuclear arsenal, Russia has failed to decisively defeat a significantly smaller neighbor after years of brutal conflict.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, USA

Carney to announce Canada will meet 2% NATO spending target by March … except NATO supports Trump’s 5% Ask as do most members

Carney to announce Canada will meet 2% NATO spending target by March

Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to announce that his government plans to meet the NATO benchmark target of two per cent of the country’s gross domestic product by the end of the current fiscal year in March, Radio-Canada has confirmed.

The prime minister will outline a pathway to the often-hyped two per cent goal in a speech in Toronto this morning, said the confidential source who was not authorized to speak publicly.

NATO to propose upping members’ defence spending to 5% in line with Trump demand

NATO’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Thursday said he will propose that members increase their overall military spending target to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the pact’s next summit. “There’s broad support,” Rutte said.

More … Canada faces ‘massive challenge’ as NATO eyes new 5% spending target: expert

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"CAF - Canadian Armed Forces", Canada, NATO, USA

Canada’s costly NATO reminder: membership doesn’t come cheap

Membership has its privileges, as the old American Express advertisement promised. But it also has steep costs.

Canada faced a potential multibillion reminder of this as defence ministers gathered Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

They had come to set the stage for annual leaders’ summit in The Hague later this month where talk of defence spending will dominate the agenda.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"CAF - Canadian Armed Forces", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, NATO

German, Norwegian officials urge Canada to join ‘familiar family’ in buying new submarines

Senior German and Norwegian defence officials say they’re confident Canada will sign on to the ReArm Europe plan in the coming weeks and such a move will make it easier for the Liberal government to buy new submarines from allies.

Jasper Wieck, the political director of the German Ministry of Defence, and Norway’s program director of submarines, Capt. (N) Oystein Storebo, spoke with CBC News recently about the pitch for Canada to join their existing partnership, in which the two nations are constructing cutting-edge boats that will begin to enter service in 2028.

No mention by Carney of NATO’s upcoming demand for a 3.5% members spend: Nato will force Britain to spend 3.5pc on defence

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"RCN", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, NATO

U.K.’s defence review has lessons for Canada, says former NATO chief

Britain intends to expand its submarine fleet and refresh its nuclear deterrent capability as part of a wide-ranging defence review that one of its authors says Canada should read and take to heart.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who ordered the review, unveiled the plan, saying it is meant to prepare the country to fight a modern war and counter the threat from Russia.

“We face war in Europe, new nuclear risks, daily cyberattacks, growing Russian aggression in our waters, menacing our skies,” Starmer said during a media availability at the Govan Shipbuilders Ltd. yard in Scotland.

Starmer, as part of his statement Monday, pledged a hefty increase to U.K. defence spending, bringing it to 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product by 2027, with “the ambition to hit three per cent in the next Parliament.” He added, however, the goals are subject to economic and fiscal conditions.

They aren’t ready for war … neither are we.

Nato will force Britain to spend 3.5pc on defence

Nato will force Britain to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2032, The Telegraph understands.

On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer said he had an “ambition” to reach 3 per cent by the end of the next Parliament, but stopped short of a firm commitment.

However, at a summit in The Hague later this month, Nato countries will commit to a new target of 3.5 per cent, plus an additional 1.5 per cent on defence-related infrastructure by 2032.

Funny. I haven’t heard Carney mention the increase to 3.5%

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, NATO

Russia may attack Nato in next four years, German defence chief warns

Members of the Western alliance Nato need to prepare for a possible attack from Russia within the next four years, according to Germany’s chief of defence.

General Carsten Breuer told the BBC that Russia was producing hundreds of tanks a year, many of which could be used for an attack on Nato Baltic state members by 2029 or even earlier.

He also insisted that Nato, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, remains unified over the war in Ukraine, despite differences of opinion expressed recently by both Hungary and Slovakia.

Invite them to invade Poland then invade Russia!

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, Russia

‘Secret’ memo reveals how Canada’s refusal to join missile system in 2005 hurt our reputation

Canada’s armed forces are ready for emergency pronoun deployment under battlefield conditions.

OTTAWA — A “secret” memo from the Department of National Defence last year said Canada’s 2005 decision not to join the U.S. ballistic missile defence system harmed the country’s reputation as a security partner and could make it harder to participate in the AUKUS military collaboration between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The memo also raised Canada’s long-standing failure to meet its defence spending commitments with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as “the elephant in the room” that has raised doubts about whether Canada is willing to pull its weight for international security.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"CAF - Canadian Armed Forces", Canada, NATO, USA, WTF?

Canada faces ‘massive challenge’ as NATO eyes new 5% spending target: expert

OTTAWA – When representatives of NATO nations meet in The Hague late next month, they’re expected to dramatically hike the alliance’s defence spending target for members — the one Canada is failing to hit already.

At the last NATO summit in Washington last year, allies lined up to call out Canada for failing to meet the alliance defence spending target of two per cent of national GDP.

When Prime Minister Mark Carney attends the NATO summit next month, he’ll likely be under pressure to commit to a new defence spending target of five per cent of national GDP.

I see a real possibility of the US asserting control over “our Arctic” for national security reasons as I suspect Canada to remain lackadaisical about defense matters.

Who knows, maybe even NATO will tire of us.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, NATO

It’s time for Canada to get serious about defence spending

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first major test on the world stage came this week, when he met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington. While the discussions covered a range of bilateral issues—from trade to energy cooperation—defence spending was also a focal point.

The United States has long pressed Canada to increase its military investment. The meeting brought renewed scrutiny of Ottawa’s commitment to its NATO obligations, with President Trump saying that he was pleased that Canada was beginning to spend more on defence.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"CAF - Canadian Armed Forces", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, NATO

The NATO Country With No Military Gets Serious About Defense

REYKJAVIK, Iceland—North America and Europe meet beneath this island, where continental plates diverge. Icelanders are trying to balance interests on both sides.

The country of fewer than 400,000 people is an anomaly. A founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it has no standing military. Though rooted in Europe, it isn’t part of the European Union. Traditionally a fishing island, it has become a tech hub thanks to bountiful geothermal and hydroelectric power.

For decades, Icelanders lived austerely in peaceful remoteness. Their location in the icy waters between Greenland and Norway offered NATO a base during the Cold War from which to monitor Soviet naval traffic, but residents worried little about dangers from warships.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO

Nato’s ‘drone wall’ that would see Russia’s invasion coming

Germany is seeking to build a “drone wall” along Nato’s eastern border with Russia to help defend its Baltic allies from a future invasion.

Friedrich Merz, the incoming chancellor, has vowed to rearm Germany in response to the threat from Russia, passing historic reforms last month that unlock potentially unlimited spending on defence projects.

The German arms industry is now discussing the idea of building a fleet of drones – or a “drone wall” – to defend all or parts of Nato’s eastern flank.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, Russia