Post
Conversation
![David Watson 🥑](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="96" height="96"><rect fill-opacity="0"/></svg>)
Post your reply
Ready to see what Lithuania can do for your business?
Explore how top international companies leverage Lithuania's talent and strategic location in Europe. 
Slide 1 of 5 - Carousel
First, get the weapons even if you don't build them yourselves. Have to be safe in short term, before autonomy is possible. Buy from anyone friendly who will sell them. Note this applies to US shipbuilding in east Asia too. We should have SK & Japan building us naval ships.
Oh, now, you think they need to be responsible for themselves?
this is one thing trump does appear to be right about, unfortunately. there's no reason we need to be the *main* deterrent for Europe; they're big enough to protect themselves
They seem to be better at efficient government spending than the US so I think they would do ok if they prioritized this
Yes, but if the US unilaterally pulls out, all the spending in the world is not going to replace the capabilities that we have built up over decades.
When analyzing currencies geographically, you can see that those related to the Eurozone are very weak, even when adjusted for interest rate differentials. There is a lack of confidence in future economic real growth.
It would also take a generation to build the institutional muscle they'd really need, though in fairness, Russia seems to be in the same boat.
Ultimately, the countries that hold the most power in the EU are not the ones threatened by Russia, so this hasn’t and won’t happen.
One thing to add to this - the EU cannot directly do procurement (blocked by the treaties), which is a big part of the reason for all the messiness.
Trying to tell Member States how to spend their defence budgets is not an easy sell…
This was true three years ago too. Almost nothing has been done since then.
I believe this would do wonders for the EU economy. Good jobs, investment in technology. Run it as a stimulus program.
Think we'll see the abrogation of NATO standardization agreement which would see US, Canada and Europe unable to share interchangeable ammunition?
Difficult to pull off with sub-1% GDP growth. EU needs to get its house in order on many different fronts.
I think the problem is that the EU would rather surrender than spend the money to protect themselves
Cybercrime is a $9.5 trillion "economy" in 2024, 
World's 3rd largest if a nation! 
Protect yourself with the "Cybersecurity Dictionary for Everyone" - on amazon: amazon.com/CYBERSECURITY- #cybersecurity #cybercrime
And they need to listen to french. They really don't like to do that and we're not so likeable. Way too arrogants.
what's getting lost in the mix is that low military spending across Europe was desired by the US.
Coordination sounds hard. The European Union looks simultaneously too centralized and too decentralized at the moment. All in the wrong ways. For military purposes it looks too fragmented and decentralized.
All US EU takes ignore how fragile and new the EU is. Brexit, war and the right wing wave have made everything very complex.
Commodities are produced and consumed globally, so their prices reflect worldwide supply and demand. When expected prices for industrial metals, energy, and grains are trending downward, the message is clear: the market anticipates a global economic slowdown.
They will. EU might be slow but it has been very durable and growing since the fifties in deepening a common Western European interest.
If NATO stops working, they will figure out alternatives.
And Ukraine held them to leaky draw for 3 years w/ Europe’s hand me downs. I bet Poland backed into a corner will light them up as they are far better equipped. And Russian needing the Norks shows that there is a limit to Putin’s mobilization capacity.
But they aren’t serious. The Russian bugbear is just a tool for them to accrue more power.
Even if they did spend more on defence it would be only be used to further that aim and not to actually deter a largely imaginary threat from Russia.
Now there’ll be a scramble for all Western-aligned countries to develop nuclear weapons…Germany, Poland, Japan, S Korea in particular.
If I were sitting in Seoul or Warsaw I would put ZERO faith in the US nuclear umbrella now. Zero.
It will be hugely destabilizing.
That ship has sailed tbh. If the EU didn't get its shit together in 2016 or 2022, it won't now, with a much less favorable internal political situation.
They can budget all they want. When Trump embargoes spare parts and hands Russia everything we know about NATO it won’t matter.
Maybe, maybe, just maybe, they will wake up and realize they can’t just assume the US will defend them and they will start to get serious. I hate that it might come to that, but if it has the effect of a hard slap to get their attention, might be a silver lining.
The correct move if the US leaves NATO is to bring back the Austrio-Hungarian Empire to counter Russia
African governments will soon be able to contract a pan-African security agency to train their militaries, rather than relying on private security companies from outside the continent.
hopefully, they step up to the plate because Trump is gonna zero out Ukraine and NATO
In GDP PPP Europe is only 4 times larger, and Russian weapons are 5 times cheaper
Russia has a larger MIC
Europe is stagnating, Russia has massive reserves and very little debt
Europe has barely own tech, Russia full nuclear triad, space assets, hypersonics
Now do the math again
Thing is that we've been used to the US having a huge military that's ready to help us the last 80 years. Now, we don't have that. And there's a substantial "destroy the EU" right wing that will recoil at the idea of us not relying on the US and NATO for protection
Mostly a matter of integration. Moronic people are hostile to Brussels. This is the cause of many european ailments, not just miltary ones. The nationalists are morons, just like in the US.
all it takes is time & money & lots of resources, like gas, steel, chemicals, etc. …
(and a small detail of mustering public support to mount an invasion force)
The Baumol effect (lack of other professional opportunities) give Russia the advantage of much cheaper but competent engineers, technicians and workers to feed the military–industrial complex compared to Europe.
With refinery closures in Europe and competition from the Middle East and the US, exporters – including Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery – are looking for footholds across the continent.
Question is, how do we protect that kind of coordination against a Russian supported populist winning the election in one of the load-bearing member states. (Most worried about France 2027.)
Retarded MBA style thinking
GDP does not automatically equal military superiority
Russia still has an industrial base, natural resources and strategic depth that cannot be simply outspent
Show additional replies, including those that may contain offensive content