> No they haven't. It's just not what the build up to to war looks like. At all
Depends European state to state. For example in 2018 [0][1], most Eastern states were spending close enough to what was needed.
The biggest laggard remained Germany due to constitutional issues, but even they along with other Western European nations have gotten back on track following the 2022 escalation by Russia [2]
> Broadly spying on your own citizens is not "counterespionage"
Dragnets absolutely are. Every piece of intelligence matters.
> Spying on your own citizens without any real military or economic preparation for war is proof that the former was not motivated by threat of war
Yet the dramatic rise in defense expenditures across Europe after 2022 and my own personal experience working with people in this space has shown a mixture of both.
I am a major critic of Western Europe's failure of preparation, but the changes that have happened in the past 3 years are massive. And every major and regional power is in the midst of a massive rearmament.
A major conventional war will happen in the next 5 years, and everyone is in the midst of preparation for that.
No it doesn't because the claim was that most of them have prepared for war. Most have not.
> Dragnets absolutely are. Every piece of intelligence matters.
This isn't, and it's not even marketed as such because that would be too patently ridiculous. It's sold on the lie of keeping children safe.
> Yet the dramatic rise in defense expenditures across Europe after 2022 and my own personal experience working with people in this space has shown a mixture of both.
There is no dramatic expenditure rise which indicates a build up for war across most of Europe. It's gone up a few points across the EU over many years and has just now barely breached the global average.
The claim was that this is justified because it is an adequate preparation for war, and preparations are being made for war, and therefore it is being done to prepare for war and is good.
None of those things are true. At best they're wild conjecture which are at odds with other facts. They are not an adequate preparation for war. Preparations for war are not being made. And they are not being done to prepare for a war.
> A major conventional war will happen in the next 5 years, and everyone is in the midst of preparation for that.
Almost no countries in Europe are preparing for invasion. If anything they are slightly upping deterrence factor, but they are not behaving though they fear being invaded, nor do they have any serious capability to participate in a major conventional war outside their borders, which is likely to involve China and be centered in the Pacific.
No they haven't. It's just not what the build up to to war looks like. At all.
> But counterespionage is equally critical.
No, probably not equally critical once you have decided there is likely to be war. Important sure, but:
1. Broadly spying on your own citizens is not "counterespionage".
2. Spying on your own citizens without any real military or economic preparation for war is proof that the former was not motivated by threat of war.