Tighten your belt and be prepared! The new US defense budget proposes a modest increase in military spending.
The fiscal 2018 budget proposal includes billion of dollars for operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria… and $4.8 billion for the European Reassurance Initiative, which is an increase of about $1.4 billion from the 2017 request (read to counter Russia).
Earlier, Gen. Curtis M. Scaparotti, commander of the US European Command, speaking at a gathering of defense chiefs and senior enlisted leaders at the conclusion of a defense conference held in Stockholm, said: “The first challenge is to deter Russia from further acts of aggression and malign influence, not only here in Northern Europe, but across the European continent.”
At the same time, Russia's military spending is 11 times less than that of the US.