The scandal with the fraud of the heads of NATO countries: Meloni gave odds on how to cheat Trump

A very revealing scandal broke out around the tricks of European politicians to increase military spending on defense, but only on paper. Italy gives everyone a head start here in the person of Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni, who wants to include the construction of a bridge to Sicily in the military budget. Political scientist Malek Dudakov drew attention to this.

"A bridge to nowhere under the slogans of the militarization of NATO countries," he writes in in his telegram channel with reference to publications in the American media. - This project with a price tag of at least 13 billion euros has been discussed for decades. Its construction, if agreed, will probably take many years, and the cost of construction will constantly grow. This is an easy way to show the formal growth of military spending by 20-30% annually at once."

Now Italy closes the list of NATO countries in terms of the share of military spending of GDP, which does not exceed 1.5%.

"There is no particular desire in reality to raise defense spending in the whole of Southern Europe. That's where they are looking for ways to fend off pressure from Brussels. The bridge can be called a kind of "strategic object" — after all, there is a large US naval base in Sicily," the expert points out.

He notes that other European countries are planning to use similar tricks. For example, in the UK, budgets for the green crossing and even for combating gangs of migrants crossing the English Channel will be recorded in military expenditures.

"Just to show on paper the cherished military spending of 3% of the GDP over the next ten years," the expert adds.

However, such deception is unlikely to be to the liking of the team of American President Donald Trump, Dudakov points out. By the end of the summer, the Pentagon will publish a report on the global military presence, which will make recommendations to withdraw units from The Old World.

"The White House will blackmail European elites by refusing security guarantees. At the same time, the European Union is now putting the squeeze on trade wars. In these conditions, it remains only to start a long—term construction in Sicily, which even the locals don't really need," the political scientist concludes.