Romania Hikes Defense Spending Following Ukraine Crisis

[frigidmagi]

defensenews

Romania is planning to increase its defense budget by 700 million lei (US $218 million) in 2014 in reaction to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, according to Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

“Following talks held with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, the ministers of finance and defense decided to raise the defense budget this year by 700 million lei, which represents 0.2 percent of [Romania’s] gross domestic product,” Ponta told local news agency Agerpres.

This represents a major increase for the Romanian Defense Ministry’s budget. Currently, the country allocates only 1 percent of its GDP to defense, only half of NATO’s recommended spending level of 2 percent.

The prime minister said that the planned spending hike will allow Romania to modernize its arms and military equipment with the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine in mind. Ponta did not disclose which types of armament will be overhauled with the new funds, but stressed the money will not be used to finance additional military acquisitions.

The Romanian Armed Forces consist of about 69,000 troops, according to data released by the European Defence Agency.

[General Havoc]

Trust Russia to come to the rescue when people were starting to question if there was any point to having NATO around anymore...

[Lys]

NATO's point remains the same it's been since the end of the Cold War: Allowing the European powers to cut back on military spending and enjoy the benefits of having more money knowing that they're safely protected by the US defensive umbrella. The Rumanians don't really have anything to worry about, no part of Bessarabia is inside their border so they don't have anything the Russians might want. If Putin goes all Paranoid Tsar and starts screaming "IT ALL BELONGS TO MOTHER MUSCOVY!" then Rumania's pissant little military isn't going to help one way or the other, because the nukes will start flying.

[General Havoc]

There are possibilities in between "Russia does nothing" and "Russia launches global thermo-nuclear war". And given the Transdneistria issue and the Russian troops deployed there, the Romanians wanting to have the capacity to respond in some regard makes a degree of sense.

[Lys]

There are three scenarios where Rumania benefits from having a military:

1) Shit goes down such that Rumania is in a position to reclaim Bessarabia, probably under the excuse of being peacekeepers. Aren't you glad we invested on a military now? We get to use it occupying a territory full of people who want not a damn thing to do with us!

2) Poland and Russia duke it out in the Ukraine, somehow the rest of NATO doesn't get dragged into this, and Rumania's brave soldiers are the only the only thing standing in the way of a Russia victory! Does Rumania have videogame developers? I have a plot I want to sell them.

3) NATO collapses because the US welched on its treaty obligations. Rumania will want something to contribute for the new Anti-Russia Eastern Alliance (AREA) that will form in its place. God-dammit Obama!

If they want to build up their military for any one of those scenarios, then more power to them, but I think they're just being panicky and irrational. The reasonable course is to just keep the military small and pocket the peace dividend.

[frigidmagi]

Speaking as a Marine, I find it a good thing you will never actually be in charge of determining what a military actually needs Lys.

[Lys]

Man that's harsh, I'm not even old enough to run for Congress and you're already saying I have no chance to get elected. Why, you haven't even seen my platform! Here's a summarized version:

"The USMC has experienced a severe case of mission creep over more than a century and it needs to be scaled the hell back. A naval power needs a corps of naval infantry to provide security and landing parties for its warships, it doesn't need an Army Jr redundantly doing the jobs the real Army already does. Neither do we need a dedicated amphibious assault branch when regular army units have historically shown themselves just as capable at the job. Operation Overlord was conduced by US 1st Army with no Marines, while Operation Iceberg (Okinawa) was a 10th Army job with heavy Marine support. As Congresswoman I would vote to cut funding to the overbloated Marine Corps and use the money for more worthy military endeavours."

If I can get some momentum behind this, it'll be the bitch fight of the decade in the halls of Congress. Bring popcorn!

[frigidmagi]

"The USMC has experienced a severe case of mission creep over more than a century and it needs to be scaled the hell back. A naval power needs a corps of naval infantry to provide security and landing parties for its warships, it doesn't need an Army Jr redundantly doing the jobs the real Army already does. Neither do we need a dedicated amphibious assault branch when regular army units have historically shown themselves just as capable at the job. Operation Overlord was conduced by US 1st Army with no Marines, while Operation Iceberg (Okinawa) was a 10th Army job with heavy Marine support. As Congresswoman I would vote to cut funding to the overbloated Marine Corps and use the money for more worthy military endeavours."

Welp there goes my opinion of your military knowledge.

[Lys]

And here I was expecting sabres at dawn for the honour of the Corps.

[Steve]

I can understand why you'd think that way, Lys, but the truth is the USMC and Army are supposed to do very different jobs and have entirely different functions in doing those jobs. Amphibious assault capability is not the only thing being considered there. And the Army did a lot of landings back then because the Marines were still much smaller in size by comparison (even if growing well past any prior force level) and were entirely focused in the Central Pacific (they were effectively Nimitz's army for his Central Pacific campaign).

[rhoenix]

I'm still processing the fact that Lys just cheerfully trolled Frigid.

[frigidmagi]

And here I was expecting sabres at dawn for the honour of the Corps.

That supposes that there would be any honor in dueling you wouldn't it?

[Lys]

That supposes that there would be any honor in dueling you wouldn't it?

Hah! Let it never be said that frigid can't give as good as he takes.

[Josh]

That supposes that there would be any honor in dueling you wouldn't it?

Hah! Let it never be said that frigid can't give as good as he takes.

Usually he returns it with a healthy amount of accrued interest.

Trust me on that.