You will find more infographics at Statista
The chart above illustrates how much aid the largest donating countries have provided to aid the Ukrainians in their defense against Russia. But what about aid as a percentage of donor GDP (I hear someone ask)?
You will find more infographics at Statista
That chart tells a clearer story. Aid is proportional to how threatening countries deem the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Right up at the top are Baltic countries, then Poland. Slightly below that are the United States and the United Kingdom. Where, you say, is Germany? Where, indeed. The German commitment has been around .17% of GDP.
My interpretation of that is that the Germans are shrewd. The more we provide, the more it allows them to reduce their aid.
Here is a question.
Ukraine is not part of NATO. NATO is supposed to a defensive alliance and currently, Russia has not attacked any NATO member countries. In theory, aid to Ukraine is a discretionary choice for member countries. On the other hand, the attack on Nord Stream was an attack on German infrastructure (even if co-owned by Russia), and there has been indifference on something which the alliance should cover against.
Is it perverse that we castigate alliance members for choices which are outside the literal scope of the alliance while processing indifference for something that the charter of the alliance covers?
I know that what is happening in Ukraine seems grave from the spirit of the alliance but there are reasons why the letter of the alliance is shaped the way it is.
It is a European war. That’s how almost the entire world sees it. If major European economies aren’t interested in providing the support for which the Ukrainians are asking, why should we? It’s not to defend the rules-based system since we don’t follow the rules.
NATO stopped being a defensive alliance 30 years ago. Also, you can’t simultaneously claim that “the alliance is united” while major members don’t live up to the commitments they’ve made.