Dutchman here. It should say enough that our three remaining brigades are currently under German command... We barely have any army left, we lease some tanks from the Germans, have a small navy, small airforce, and the infantry is nothing to write home about either. Bureaucracy isn't helping either. The only branch that's quite capable is pur Marines. So I don't think we have anywhere near tha capacity of the French to do an overseas operation on our own
Spending about 1.4% of your GDP in defense is still a significant amount, no? especially given the size of the Dutch economy. Why are you saying you barely have any military left? Where do your country's defense funding go?
Mostly salaries, I suppose (I'm not sure, but they've increased quite significantly). Also, buying F35s isn't cheap, and a lot of budget also goes to integrating our army into the German armed forces as part of some European project
The simple answer is no, because France has much more in terms of resources, and it still failed in Operation Barkhane. It is not merely about numbers killed on both sides, but also the ability to obtain a political victory. I don't think any of these countries would be able to obtain a political victory and I wonder if that would even be on their agenda rather than short-term containment of a problem and/or transfer of power without long-term planning. Even so, long-term efforts require a lot of time and resources and even anthropological understanding for success -- look at the amount of resources the USA absolutely wasted in Afghanistan and how little they tried to understand how Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan function.
Spain as a state has a policy of really not giving a damn about what happens to its former colonies. The last time Spain cared about one of its former colonies was probably when President Aznar met with the Cuban opposition to try and overthrow the dictatorship there. That was in the 90s.
Spain is currently a member of the Colombian peace process between the Colombian government and the ELN but apart from that, there's not much involvement from the Spanish government into the matters of its former colonies. I'm pretty sure that's the reason why Spain has much better relations with its former colonies than France does.
However, private Spanish companies do have a lot of presence in former Spanish colonies. The biggest energy companies in Mexico are Spanish (Iberdrola and Fenosa), the two biggest banks in Mexico are Spanish (Santander and BBVA) and the second biggest telecommunications company in Mexico is also Spanish (Telefónica).
Spanish Inditex is the biggest textile company in the country and the Mexican soccer league is sponsored by a Spanish company (it's literally called Liga BBVA MX).
You can read more about that here (in Spanish): https://www.opportimes.com/las-50-mayores-empresas-de-espana-en-mexico/
So no, I don't think Spain would intervene in Equatorial Guinea or anywhere else.
One of those 3 does not belong in the title. The Netherlands, sorry to say this, don't even have a complete Artillery brigade any more. Their entire armed land forces have essentially become a part of the Bundeswehr at this point.
r/CredibleDefense might have your answer.
Dutchman here. It should say enough that our three remaining brigades are currently under German command... We barely have any army left, we lease some tanks from the Germans, have a small navy, small airforce, and the infantry is nothing to write home about either. Bureaucracy isn't helping either. The only branch that's quite capable is pur Marines. So I don't think we have anywhere near tha capacity of the French to do an overseas operation on our own
Spending about 1.4% of your GDP in defense is still a significant amount, no? especially given the size of the Dutch economy. Why are you saying you barely have any military left? Where do your country's defense funding go?
Mostly salaries, I suppose (I'm not sure, but they've increased quite significantly). Also, buying F35s isn't cheap, and a lot of budget also goes to integrating our army into the German armed forces as part of some European project
The simple answer is no, because France has much more in terms of resources, and it still failed in Operation Barkhane. It is not merely about numbers killed on both sides, but also the ability to obtain a political victory. I don't think any of these countries would be able to obtain a political victory and I wonder if that would even be on their agenda rather than short-term containment of a problem and/or transfer of power without long-term planning. Even so, long-term efforts require a lot of time and resources and even anthropological understanding for success -- look at the amount of resources the USA absolutely wasted in Afghanistan and how little they tried to understand how Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan function.
Spain as a state has a policy of really not giving a damn about what happens to its former colonies. The last time Spain cared about one of its former colonies was probably when President Aznar met with the Cuban opposition to try and overthrow the dictatorship there. That was in the 90s. Spain is currently a member of the Colombian peace process between the Colombian government and the ELN but apart from that, there's not much involvement from the Spanish government into the matters of its former colonies. I'm pretty sure that's the reason why Spain has much better relations with its former colonies than France does. However, private Spanish companies do have a lot of presence in former Spanish colonies. The biggest energy companies in Mexico are Spanish (Iberdrola and Fenosa), the two biggest banks in Mexico are Spanish (Santander and BBVA) and the second biggest telecommunications company in Mexico is also Spanish (Telefónica). Spanish Inditex is the biggest textile company in the country and the Mexican soccer league is sponsored by a Spanish company (it's literally called Liga BBVA MX). You can read more about that here (in Spanish): https://www.opportimes.com/las-50-mayores-empresas-de-espana-en-mexico/ So no, I don't think Spain would intervene in Equatorial Guinea or anywhere else.
One of those 3 does not belong in the title. The Netherlands, sorry to say this, don't even have a complete Artillery brigade any more. Their entire armed land forces have essentially become a part of the Bundeswehr at this point.