ANTI-MILITARISM SINKS IN SPAIN

For half a century, all the governments that assumed power in Spain, from the right to the radical left, agreed that the country, due to its limited resources, could not increase military spending. The population supported this decision.

But in May 1982, Spain became the 16th member of the NATO, under a right-wing government led by José María Aznar, the man who years later joined the war in Iraq declared by the United States in response to the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's army.

Entry into NATO sparked political chaos. All the polls confirmed that the Spanish people rejected membership in this political-military alliance. The Spanish refused to join NATO, but they could not force Aznar to change his position. Spain joined the organization when an absolute majority of citizens were against it.

This Tuesday, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took a new step toward further undermining his compatriots' traditional anti-militarism. Sánchez confirmed that Spain will dedicate 2 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to military spending. This percentage was approved at a meeting of the Alliance held in 2023 at its headquarters in Brussels.

This year's NATO military spending ($1.26 trillion) could cover the promised $100 billion in annual climate finance over 12 years.

If all NATO members meet their military spending targets of 2 percent of GDP, it is estimated that an additional $2.57 trillion will be diverted from climate spending by 2028, enough to finance the climate adaptation costs of all low- and middle-income countries for seven years.

There are, therefore, both opponents and supporters of this 2 percent target, which in principle will be met by all Alliance members in 2028. Spain has just done so.

NATO's spending targets have gained momentum as a result of Russia's large-scale illegal invasion of Ukraine; however, even before reaching the 2 percent target, NATO's military spending in 2028 was more than 16 times higher than that of Russia and its Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) allies, which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Russia has increased its military spending to a projected $102 billion in 2023, but this would still be less than one-twelfth of NATO's combined spending of $1.26 trillion.