Norway wants a 'historic increase' in defense spending of $56 billion over the next 12 years

MAJ Byron Oyler LTC Eugene Chu And nothing has changed since WWII, Europe can't stand alone against a major adversary. Whether you like it or not, Europe needs the resources of the United States to survive as a free democracy........the rest of the free world too for that matter. That's the burden of being the leader of freedom in the world.

Ukraine is doing it pretty well with only weapons provided and it is a sad state if Europe as a whole cannot handle Russia. I am not interested in being isolationist like before both world wars, I just do not want to be the major contributor to Europe's defense against Russia.

MAJ Byron Oyler LTC Eugene Chu What do you consider a major contributor? It's not like we have the massive troop presence in Europe that we had during the Cold War.
Are you trying to bring money into the equation? That's a little crazy given the savings to us by not having a permanent forward deployed troop presence. Look, although Europe is united under the NATO umbrella the individual countries really aren't much bigger than say our states such as Texas or California. Are you implying that those states could stand up to Russia with no help from anyone?
Ukraine is doing well with only the weapons provided, but it has been all NATO countries, not just the US providing them. Those other countries have backed us up by providing weapons during this silly Ukraine spending impass in Congress.
A leader, by definition, bears the brunt of all things in any campaign. If the US is truly going to be the defender/leader of democracy in the free world we should be prepared for, and gladly be a major contributor to that defense.

Helping them should be part of the human condition but how much do we need to be the defender and leader of democracy? I am actually a fan of larger troop presence overseas as it buys you something money cannot, relationships.