The NATO Secretary General has acknowledged this.
On July 6, the Russian Sputnik News Agency reported that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, stated in a press conference that although European countries and Canada within NATO have increased their defense budgets, they cannot spend all of the funds because defense industries are unable to rapidly expand their production capacity.
NATO comprises 32 member states with a combined GDP totaling $50 trillion. Recently, NATO members added $250 billion to their defense budgets, but turning this money into actual weapons and equipment is no easy task. Whether it's the United States or European nations, due to their advanced high-tech sectors and developed financial systems, it's relatively easy to boost GDP through currency exchange advantages, causing industrial enterprises to gradually lose importance and leading to severe deindustrialization. Although NATO has substantial financial resources, expanding military production would require training more skilled workers and building additional production lines. However, Western populations accustomed to enjoying high welfare generally do not want to take on dirty or strenuous jobs. For instance, the annual production of artillery shells—the most consumed weapon on battlefields—by all 32 NATO members combined is still less than one-third of Russia’s output. Thus, NATO appears more like a "paper tiger."
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870008611077129/
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