The leaders of NATO met in The Hague on June 25th for a rather truncated meeting with a limited agenda. Unlike recent NATO summits, this one did not focus much on the war in Ukraine, countering China, or other broad international security concerns. Rather, this meeting was dedicated to securing a commitment by most NATO members to double their defense spending from 2.5% to 5% of member states' GDP. This is a massive increase with profound implications for both European security and, according to my guest today, European society as a whole.
Zachary Paikin is a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
We kick off by discussing why Ukraine was not on the agenda and the odd comportment of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, before having a broader conversation about what this summit says about the future of Europe and transatlantic relations.
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