Analyze THIS...
https://www.bruegel.org/publications/datasets/european-natural-gas-imports/
Posted on 02/02/2022 11:32:25 PM PST by McGruff
Scarred by losing tens of millions of lives on their soil in two world wars, many European Union nations have been wary ever since about military spending.
Now, as Russian pressure builds at the Ukrainian border, they face a painful reality: Europe remains heavily reliant on U.S. might to deter another potentially big conflict on its turf.
Because of a half-hearted attitude to defense and security over decades, “the EU has almost nothing to bring to the table,” says Piotr Buras, senior policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations think tank. “So, Russia can simply ignore it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Back when having two large oceans between us and the fighting actually meant something.
And while Europe suffered more, many/most of them recognized (and still do) the sacrifices our troops made. Even today they have cemeteries filled with our dead that are well-kept and honor ceremonies held each year.
I’m not sure how much we helped in WWI (maybe just enough to bring the German’s to the table - but IMHO I think the pandemic was the main factor in ending the war) - but they would have lost WWII without us.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
If AP hates him, HE MUST BE GOOD!!!
Perhaps for the same reasons that Americans in the latter 19th century would have been wary of another Civil War.
didnt trump try to warn them a few years back that hey need to step up more ?¿
Germany has long since been urged time and time again to beef up its military and to get over WWII. Do you see the Russians or the Chinese allowing themselves to be completely paralyzed because they had mass murdering dictators in charge at one point in the 20th century? Of course not.
The Germans have CHOSEN to wallow in a lack of self confidence when it comes to hard power. Part of the reason for that is a cynical calculation that they could just freeload off of Uncle Sugar to provide for their defense so they could lavish money that should have been going toward defense on ever more socialism at home.
It is long long past time the Germans grew up, grew a spine and started taking on responsibilities commensurate with their desire to exercise diplomatic clout abroad. If they want to be treated like a serious country they need to start acting like a serious country.
I disagree. Wokeness is a result of imported European socialism....Gramsci anyone? As for the Yurps' military weakness, it was not always so. Even in the 1980's, West Germany actually had a serious military. It was funded reasonably, it had modern weapons systems that worked and it probably would have given a good account of itself had worst come to worst. The rot set in when the Cold War ended and the Yurps decided they could just freeload off of America for their defense.....it helped to use that money to shore up their creaking social programs at home.
That's because the Europeans were the cause of, and started both World Wars.
The US didn't have time to do nearly as much fighting or suffer nearly as many losses as the major European countries did in WWI but its impact was never the less decisive. Firstly, it was supplying the Entente Powers with all sorts of war material and financing. Secondly, it was really starting to get going militarily in 1918 pouring in 10,000 troops per day into France. This, at a time when everybody else was financially exhausted, bled white and on the point of starvation at home.....and there was great big America with all its manpower and resources just starting to get going. That decisively tipped the scales.
Had America stayed out (as it should have), the Europeans would have exhausted themselves with neither side able to win. The result would have been a reasonable negotiated settlement that did not create the conditions for another World War. Instead American strength allowed the French in particular to be extremely vindictive and impose grossly unfair treaties which they themselves did not have the strength to enforce ultimately but which left Germany, Hungary and several other countries extremely bitter....understandably so.
Where do you live in Russia?
This article could be summarized in one word: socialism. Strangely, that word never appears one time in leftist articles about the woes of socialism.
It's not that simple: both France and the UK maintained large militaries after WWII. In the Suez Crisis both decided to act in their own interests against Nasser's government in Egypt. We completely undercut their efforts and forced them to withdraw. Allowing Nasser's government to stay in power was a disaster, promoted Arab radicalism and the fascist Baath takeovers of Syria and Iraq, and led Egypt and the Soviet Union to support the FLN's attacks and the eventual loss of Algeria.
No European country is going to maintain a large military if the US insists that they cannot act in their own defense with it.
Virtue signaling "anti-colonialist" elites in the US led to the European abandonment of military forces, and to allowing the Communist takeover of Cuba.
It's not just the Europeans who have dreamt of world peace being brought in on unicorns ridden by leprechauns.
Europe isn’t
the Future is East of Suez
Europe simply no longer matters
It's hard to get over WWII when they're constantly reminded of the Holocaust. It began with the "deNazification process" and continues to this day. Heavily taught in schools. Plenty of memorials, commemorations, reminders. Plus, Germans are a favorite movie villain. Even modern Germans are usually portrayed as militaristic or sadistic.
Some Southerns complain that when people hear their accents, some think they must be a racist. I'm sure it's worse for Germans traveling abroad.
It's why Germans feel obligated to admit so many migrants, to the point of suicide. Trying to prove to the world how non-racist they are.
In the 1990s, a few years after German reunification, the Germans passed a law curtailing Turkish immigration. I heard on the radio that the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a press release, warning that Germany was reverting to its racist past. Germany quickly repealed the law.
We blame the Germans for not being a strong ally, but worry about German militarism if they get too strong. We pressure Germans to admit more Muslims, but blame Germans when their Muslims attack Jews. Germans just can't win.
Angelino97 your mangina is showing.
“After an equally brutal World War II left an estimated 36.5 million Europeans dead, it was clear things had to drastically change.”
Nonsense again. Vast majority of them were from Central and Easter Europe and WW1 ended over a 100 years ago.
In late 80’s Western Germany had 5000 tanks, Easter Germany had 2700 tanks. Now united Germany has 235 tanks. Although the quantity and quality of tanks is not one of the very key indicators of military strength anymore, it still matters and these figures are quite telling.
Eastern flank NATO countries are simply too small / still too poor to actually “do something”, while most of western Europe simply do not give a fuck - come on (man) it's far away - the only exception is Germany, they clearly pay attention... thinking how to make a profit out of it.
Anyway, It's not a military conflict between Russia and the “collective west”, quite likely it won't even turn into a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It's a power struggle between several players. If only US and/or Germany wanted to stop it, they could (threaten to) ruin Russia financially. But that's a double edge sword. It's simply cheaper to play it risking lives of Ukrainians instead of risking profits.
BTW The main “logic” behind this shitty article is “EU needs a common military”. It seems the globalists will be pimping the “European army” based on this crisis.
Not true. In late 80’s the Western Germany alone had a half million soldiers.
I think one of the big mistakes of U.S. foreign policy was not being friendlier to Russia after the fall of Communism.
Once Communism was gone, we should have befriended Russia. Maybe even invited them into NATO. No more Nazis. No more Communists. Why can't we all be friends?
Instead, the U.S. tried to hem in Russia. And then that pointless intervention against Serbia (which wasn't our enemy).
I think Europe wants peace, and understandably so. And all Russia wants is for Ukraine to stay out of NATO. Which is reasonable.
The American Deep State, its media, and Neocons are nudging Ukraine into war, with promises of support that they can't deliver. Russians and Ukrainians will both die, and it needn't be so.
Simply assure Russia that we won't intervene in Ukraine, and won't admit Ukraine to NATO. Then Russia can back down while claiming victory. No war. No deaths. No invasion. Everyone wins.
“I think one of the big mistakes of U.S. foreign policy was not being friendlier to Russia after the fall of Communism.”
Q told you so ?
the solution to all this is simple. GET OVER IT. It happened. It was awful. But that regime is gone and has been gone for a long long time. You don't see Russia or China allowing themselves to be paralyzed because they had mass murdering tyrants in power in the 20th century. The Germans just rolled over any time anybody whined. When somebody screams "nazi" because they don't let in hordes of muslims, the correct answer would be to politely but firmly tell them to eff off. That's it. "eff you. No."
Its similar to when leftists scream "racism!" here. Tell them to eff off and that no, you are NOT going to get your way simply because you nonsensically scream "racism" every time you don't get what you want.
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