In defence and security, two adages form a powerful alliance: money talks, and you get what you pay for. These seem obvious truths, but when an issue is most effectively addressed by spending money, many politicians become remarkably open to magic bullets, untested theory and counterintuition. We are, however, now seeing the underlying power of spending emphasised at the 60-acre, glossily glazed Nato headquarters on Boulevard Leopold III in Brussels.

It was reported over the weekend that the Chief of Defence of the Bundeswehr, General Carsten Breuer, has been chosen as the next chairman of Nato’s military committee. The 61-year-old Rhinelander has more than four decades of military service and became Chief of Defence in March 2023. Breuer has consistently warned of the danger posed by Russia. During a visit to Poland in 2024, he told reporters:

What we see is a threat in five to eight years… By then, based on our analysis, Russia [will have] reconstituted its own forces to a degree that an attack against Nato soil could be possible.

What we see is a threat in five to eight years… By then, based on our analysis, Russia [will have] reconstituted its own forces to a degree that an attack against Nato soil could be possible.

The military committee advises Nato’s principal decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council. Technically, it consists of the most senior officer of each member state’s armed forces – in the UK’s case, Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton – but routinely their places are taken by a permanent military representative.

In a military alliance, you........

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