The message was clear: Peacetime is over. The so-called peace dividend, which Western societies have enjoyed since the end of the Cold War, has been spent. A new era of confrontation — from the European perspective, mainly with Russia — means getting “fit for war to avoid war,” as German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has said.

Achieving the level of deterrence that many active and retired war planners and policymakers have said is necessary does not come cheap.

“We have militaries that were neglected, in some of these countries, for three decades. And some of our NATO allies are truly not fully compatible in some cases with some of the equipment,” Retired US Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove told DW. “These things are important. And we’re not there across our alliance yet.”

[Well, they’d better *get* there, and quickly. But the problem goes beyond military spending. NATO countries have not done a good job maintaining their infrastructure despite all of the talk in recent decades of a “peace dividend.” That money went into entitlement programs rather than dealing with aging roads, rail, and manufacturing capacity. Glucroft discusses this as well, mainly from a European perspective, but those same problems apply here too. — Ed]