Sometime in the 1970’s, I had a subscription to The
Economist magazine. Why, in the face of poverty did I find the funds to buy
a subscription? I just don’t know, but it was an education. Thank you, The
Economist, for sharing erudite information and a unique perspective on the
world. For one thing, it began to solidify my skepticism on the state of American
journalism.
These people are not only smarter than me, they have good
information and they know how to use the language to communicate that information.
For example, this (please be kind about their spelling and
capitalization customs):
Why, a strategist from Mars might wonder, do Europeans doubt their ability to defend themselves against Russia without American help? The total gdp of nato’s European members is more than ten times that of Russia, which has an economy about the size of Spain’s. They spend three-and-a-half times as much on defence as Russia, which has lately had to cut its budget sharply because of a broader squeeze on its economy. True, Russia has 13 times as many nuclear warheads as western Europe has, but surely Britain and France, the two nuclear powers, have more than enough to deter an attack?
Did you know that NATO’s European members have GDP ten times
that of Russia? I didn’t know that. It seems that Putin is not only the leader
but the mascot of Russia—puffed up bigger than they are, the Phillies Phanatics
of world leaders and nations.
Did you know that Russia has an economy the size of Spain? I
didn’t. So why is it a big deal if they sell natural gas to Western Europe?
Texas, on the other hand, has a diversified economy that exceeds
Russia’s by about $400 billion. California is much larger.
Why are the Democrats obsessed? Dunno. But they should start
to worry about China rather than Russia. China is the real deal, not some
puffed up façade. For example, Texas has a GDP of about $58,000 per person;
Russia, $8,700. They, the Russians, are, however, among the world’s leaders in
corruption.
A final perspective about Russia. They currently have a
population of about 140 million, say 10% the size of China. Roughly a third of
the US. Between Hitler and Stalin, they lost 20 million people in the WWII time
frame. Not a family in Russia escaped violent loss and much of their country
was devastated. No wonder they were angry and hard to get along with during the
Cold War. Now they have about 11 million more women than men…maybe due to
alcohol? They got issues!
Trump said the US provides over 70% of the resources to
protect Europe. So-called “fact checkers” despise Trump and will skew facts to
support their positions. They cite that the US provides a much lower percentage
of the NATO spending. True. But NATO couldn’t exist without our ability to
perform air-to-air refueling, provide aircraft carriers, and a whole host of
services that do not exist in the other nations’ arsenals. Basically, if NATO
were a house, members other than the US would provide the furniture, the US
would provide everything else—the foundation, the roof, the frame. You get the
picture.
Again, Trump is right, the “fact checkers” are wrong.
Another factoid—only a handful of countries in NATO live up
to their pledge to pay their “fair share” which is a factor of their GDP. Greece
is one, but it is pretty easy when you have very little GDP. Germany does not. Not
even close. But they posture, provocatively.
If you want an informed perspective on the world’s affairs,
read The Economist. Worth it.
