Dem
47
GOP
53
We might have to change the name of this feature to "This Week in Malicious Compliance," because that is definitely a recurring theme recently.
Today's malicious complier is... the nation of Italy. By GDP, Italy certainly is not poor, ranking 8th in the world, right between France and Canada. However, the Italian people are not big fans of taxes, and at the same time they definitely expect the government to provide a social safety net. Taken together, that leaves not a lot of money for defense. Certainly not 5% of GDP, which is what the Trump administration is demanding of NATO members. At the moment, Italy spends about 1.5% of GDP on its military, or about $35 billion.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is either a right-wing populist, or a fascist, or both, depending on who you ask, believes that she is the Trump whisperer, and that she understands how he thinks. And consistent with that, she's come up with a plan to give him what he wants. The Italians have been trying, for many years, to build a bridge between the Italian mainland and Sicily, at an estimated cost of $15 billion. But what if... that bridge might plausibly serve a military purpose, moving vehicles and personnel around in the event that Italy is invaded by, say, Ethiopia? Then, the $15 billion would be a military expenditure, and would count toward the 5% target.
Consequently, the Italian legislature has formally adopted a document that decrees "the bridge over the Strait of Messina also has strategic importance for national and international security, so much so that it will play a key role in defense and security, facilitating the movement of Italian armed forces and NATO allies..." Meloni thinks that this will be enough to assuage Trump, since he loves, loves, loves big development projects, and since he could declare a "win." And she might well be right.
Of course, if Trump takes the bait, then all the other NATO countries are going to quickly "discover" the military applications of the bridges, roads, airports, subways, public housing and other projects they were already planning to build. For example, the French just spent $2 billion cleaning up the Seine. Now, it will be available for soldiers to swim from one end of Paris to the other, in the event the city needs to be protected from invasion by... uh... the Swiss? (Z)