Germany benefits from those bases and wants them there. The amount of money they bring into Germany is huge.
It is a two way street, you don't put up all that screaming, and then expect the Germans to take it all the time. The time of calling them "NAZI" and getting away with everything are long since past.
First of all, spending the same amount as Russia isn't the same as being equal to Russia in military power.
No, it would be stronger, due to a higher level of technology available to the Germans, and the economical means to back up a sustained war while having neighbours as friends... rather than neighbours as enemies.
Secondly, you would need NATO because it promotes stability, peace, and the fact that if a war between Germany and Russia did erupt, less Germans would die as they would have a coalition backing them up.
No it does not, NATO was a way for the US to defend themselves first and foremost. It also was a way to standardize military equipment. This latter in basic principle is a good idea. However it quickly corrupted into big US companies lobbying and forcing military spending to be spend at THEIR companies and not competitions. Disaster purchases like the "F104 Starfighter" that nobody wanted in Europe. Or the current JSF while there are other cheaper and better options available.
That is also where this 2% thing comes from. Military annalists know perfectly well that it means nothing and that each nation is different in what it spends for it's own defence. Especially if your country is the size of Germany, you don't need to spend as much as Russia who has far more landmass to cover. There are also other factors at work that make this 2% rule nothing more than a lobby number to hope that NATO members shop at Lockheed and Boeing.
It also never was a "coalition" as in all of NATO's defence plans, Europe's mainland was seen as "acceptable and expected loss". The plans are that the entity of the European Mainland becomes glass basically from Nukes, while the USA get's more acceptable fall out. Look it up, these plans are known to the public and are not secret by any manner.
So yes, your NATO isn't as nice as your leaders told you it is.
Thirdly, if America cut military spending or pulled back on commitments to German defense, Germany would have to increase its spending anyway. You are saying why do we need to spend money on ourselves if the Americans will just do it for us, which isn't really fair.
Lastly, I'm not saying the 2% target is actually the most reasonable point to be at. But according to this article even Merkel herself said Germany should and will increase defense spending.
Nobody asked you to do that. Nobody wanted you to go to Iraq and bankrupt yourself on the costs of that. Nobody asks you to have that many aircraft carriers to protect your interest and "project your power". Much of your spending is NOT NEEDED! and nobody in the world asked for it. The amount you spend on your military is INSANE, and on top of that it is very inefficient for the money you spend on it. You spend so much on things that you have thousands of aircraft you don't even use and are just rusting away in deserts. It's fucking wasteful! And for what? Oh yeah. defence contractors milking your government and tax dollars with cheap rethoric about "veterans!" and "heroes!" and "needing the tools to do the job!". When they in fact do NOT have the tools to do the job or to get proper healthcare. As most of these contracts pushed by politicians are to buy some new aircraft or tank that in the thousands, of which only a few hundred at most will be effectively used during their lifetime!
So yes, nobody asked you to do that. And all of us will think it very reasonable if you just say "no!" to these lobbies for a change. Yes invest in your veterans, but you do not need 800 Apache helicopters in active service when you only use like 150 over the lifetime of the bloody thing. There is so much bloody overhead there and fat that could be trimmed, without ever impacting actual people working there or benefits for veterans that it is mindboggling.
A simple law that trims the fat back down to say 2.5% with half of what is saved going to soldier benefits and veteran benefits (like healthcare and college), would basically clean up a lot of your problems in the Army.
