Comments by "jeppen" (@jesan733) on "How does Russia's military spending compare to Europe?" video.

  1. Swede here. I really love our JAS fighter jet, but we tried to give a big batch to Ukraine but the US vetoed it. I'm really annoyed about this tbh. Apparently a number of components including engines that are US-made. Yes, we could design our way around it, and we should. And perhaps we can just disregard the US' will now. But for now it's a problem.
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  2.  @dainisboumber6030  one inch per day, will reach Kyiv in 1300 years.
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  3.  @SaikaAnida  are to telling me Trump is grounded in history? That's truly laughable. Is that why he's suggesting taking over Canada and Gaza?
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  4. Where is the population advantage coming from? Europe is 744m, but that includes Russia, Belarus, Turkey, Serbia, Georgia and Kazakstan. Sure Turkey is part of NATO, but let's assume it stays on the sidelines, and Russia draws from at least Belarus and occupied territories. Then it's 160m vs less than 500m, so it's 3:1 in Europe's favor, not 6:1.
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  5.  @bugsygoo  unless the US killswitches our F35s.
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  6. I think we can simplify it quite a bit by just looking at manpower devoted to defense. If Russia does 8% of GDP defense spending and has 150 million included occupied, then it's 12 million citizens working with defense. If Europe does 2% defense spending and is 500 million-ish (excluding Russia, Belarus and Turkey), then it's 10 million citizens working with defense. (Ignoring that some people aren't in the workforce, obviously).
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  7.  @IvoGisin  Georgia, Kazakstan and Turkey ARE part of the 744M, I have the breakdown in front of me. 550/160 = 3.43, which is not "almost 5:1". And there is no 550, it's below 500.
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  8.  @noahway13  good reflection, but I think there's a few things to think about regarding the economy: The US has had double today's defense spending historically, and still kept the deficit under control. It can do so now too. Also, the deficit under Biden was not a problem really, because it didn't increase the debt's share of GDP.
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  9.  @janne9034  in the end, all costs are always salaries. Virtually all NATO countries are far exceeding the NATO guideline of at least 20% spent on equipment.
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