Two Hungarian Gripen fighter jets were scrambled on September 25 from Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania as part of NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission, NATO Air Command reported on September 25.

The jets intercepted a formation of Russian aircraft—including a Su-30, a Su-35, and three MiG-31s—flying near Latvian airspace.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    the US remains the largest NATO contributor

    Nope, there are no NATO contributors. USA spend more on military for their own purposes.
    And they are far behind Europe as a contributor to Ukraine if that’s what you meant. What they gave was under Biden. And even then USA held back a lot, with strict limitations on how the weapons could be used, which made it impossible for Ukraine to win.
    Ukraine is actually doing better now without aid from USA, because the limitations are irrelevant now. If USA had helped like Europe does, the war would probably be over now.

    the US is still supporting Ukraine

    Only with things that doesn’t cost any money.
    On the contrary USA is charging allies 10% EXTRA for weapons we buy for Ukraine.

    Again I’m in no way defending Trump

    Yes you are and it’s outright sickening that people have that opinion that is directly contrary to reality.
    I praised Hungary for an actual act of solidarity, something we aren’t seeing from USA since Trump became president.
    Trump even illegally stopped shipments of weapons to Ukraine that were approved by congress, which is not legal for the president to do, and he did it to help Putin!!!
    Most people in Europe despise Trump and Americans for electing him, and with good reason.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      6 days ago

      Wait, why are we talking about Ukraine? Yes, Trump fucked a lot of things up there, but this is about NATO.

      Nope, there are no NATO contributors

      Uhhh…yeah there are. That’s the entire reason NATO exists, because NATO member states contribute military resources to NATO, which has its own command structure. That the US is the largest contributor to NATO is not arguable.

      • khannie@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Well, NATO contributions are typically measured to include individual defence spending. In that case, as a percentage of GDP, the US is third. When PPP is taken into consideration though they’re further down.

        Of course the US spends more than any individual European country. That much is certain. It just doesn’t mean others aren’t pulling their weight.

        I think we’re all friends here. Yes the US spends more but they’re also the largest NATO member so that makes sense.

        Not sure how Ukraine got dragged in but yeah Europe is ahead there, appropriately, especially when you discount the value of the extorted minerals deal from US contributions.

        • protist@mander.xyz
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          6 days ago

          100% agree with everything you said here. I just took issue with the other gent’s sentiment, “At least Hungary upholds its NATO commitments, unlike the US.” That statement couldn’t be more false, even under the Trump Admin