In decades to come, there will be many books written about how European states with well over 500 million people and an economy more than 20 times the size of Russia and approx equal to the USA, end up a group of sad bystanders in the making of their own destiny.
The relatively comfortable safety blanket of US support has been ripped away in the last 6 months exposing a lack of preparedness for the new geopolitical reality… but I think you’d be remiss to misjudge the speed and intensity of the response (with the usual exceptions; HU, SK)
Phillips; there are 340 million Americans in a version of the same sad show. Tragic on an epic scale.
It's masochism. The secret wish to lose.
As a Finn, I can't relate. Nor can my Nordic or Baltic neighbors.
Probably should be written now. The EU could wield enormous economic and military influence but are broken internally. Same thing is starting to occur in the US where the largest states are beginning to break from a coherent federal viewpoint into strictly "local" partisanship. China's laughing.
Untrue. Europe has given billions in military aid to Ukraine, weapons, security advice and support, military training, diplomatic and humanitarian support. The security of Ukraine was guaranteed by the USA which has not been honoured.
It can be a little true. The issues he is discussing aren't Binary? Or... do you think it is?
Either you’re a “sad bystander” or you aren’t. That’s binary. If he wants to talk in a more nuanced way, this isn’t it.
This
You speak of honor and Trump in the same breath? As for MAGA, history is whatever their influencers say it is. They’d have no idea otherwise.
And BREXIT Land.
exactly.. cowards must accept their destiny...
Europe is basically a colony. They do what the US says and are afraid to ruffle its feathers despite being larger when combined. They have all become Chamberlains and will be utterly shocked when forced to fight the US for Greenland or some shit.
The fact that European heads of government were deterred from supporting Ukraine properly because of Putins absurd nuclear blackmail shames us all.
Nuclear is an obsolete distraction. AI, cyber/information warfare, and weaponized robotics are the new WMDs, and Ukraine & our democracy are the proving grounds. It’s a new arms race to Robocop, Skynet, and 1984. They have Dr. Strangelove designs. That’s what all the bunkers & compounds are for.
Afghanistan was the first testing ground, for 20. years. God help them. Their choice as a US drone or the Taliban. They selected the Taliban. Agree on Nukes, neither Russia or the US know if their stuff even works. It's old fashioned fear mongering. Many massively impactful threats that work NOW.
You can't really enslave the world with nuclear weapons. It’s too messy. And so that makes the threat empty. But you can do it with killer robots and Big Data surveillance, mind control, public thought manipulation, and an alliance between the two major superpowers. That’s their plan.
Yup. Putin used it on Biden and Trump is afraid of the same thing. That's all happening. We'll know about your final point tomorrow.
A meeting of the full NATO membership should have been convened and Trump asked are you with us or against us?
Let’s remember that we, the US, demanded primacy in all things dealing with Russia & China- we insisted Europe take a back bench, so don’t start bashing the Europeans for doing what we insisted they do…
They have a chance to change this, starting tomorrow in the White House.
Putting it in those terms gives me the willies, Phillips.
It will underline that the trick is to control those with power, rather than those who elected them. Know what they want or fear & know they are yours. The lowest common denominator, when democracy is fuelled by capitalism, is greed. Numbers only matter on the balance sheet, not the street. Apathy.
@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu @kajakallas.bsky.social
It might talk about the massive amount of dirty dark money that has been used to mislead, misinform, and misrepresent far too many people across the world. Fear of Immigration (And fear of talking about Immigration) is leading to strongmen. The EU could welcome all immigrants. Before China does.
I think we're going to run out of food and drinking water faster than expected, but I agree 85% with you!
The "Peace Dividend" and it's terrible consequences.
EU probably made to big mistakes at conception. - Demanding unanimity on certain descisions - Not having a way to kick out countries like Hungary and Slovakia
yea maybe instead of unanimity they needed a 2/3rds rule like the US? what to do about a rogue state tho like hungary? imagine the US kicking out florida because they have a bad actor as governor? not really possible if the goal is “union”, so 2/3rds can overrule bad actors.
Wasn't Slovakia an Axis Power member state? I haven't been following Slovakian-EU relations lately. Please inform me what I need to know.
i am not following them either just commenting on EU rules and was thinking specifically of hungary and putin and trump’s pal orban.
Stfu bro I'm sick of your doomposting
I'm sick of Europe being afraid of the US, personally.
Europe has been stepping up
I cant believe they haven't hit send already. Putin has hammered Kyiv for years and it hasn't fallen. Every European nation could forward deploy drones and send 10k+ in Moscow in one night. Whats he going to do?
I've said many times, if Europe ever united effectively somehow, they could tell the U.S. to piss off and kick Russia's ass all by themselves. Ukraine could and should be able to order its own affairs just as any other nation-state, including joining NATO or the EU or Book-of-the-Month Club.
They (eu leaders) ALL know this The question WE should ALL ask is why they do not act like it. The answer is depressing for Europeans, and they need to insist on sovereignty and better world organisations.
Why doesn't the EU have an Air Force and a robust building program? What are they waiting for? The US is no longer reliable. Plus US standards are not what they once were. Thanks to greed. Boeing is a disaster with low skilled employees.
If they make that choice they will make it in large part for the same reason we in the US have made that choice. We want our stock portfolios to continue to rise. Love of money that will never be fungible in any event. THAT's tragic. #EconSky
I think they view this war as a way to destroy the Russian military and collapse Putin’s regime. Basically, the longer this war goes on, the higher chance Russia gets removed as a near-peer threat. Thus allowing the West militaries to focus on China.
That the EU is still buying Russian gas says everything. Calamitous energy and defence policies are the hallmark of 21st century European politics.
That's probably true. They appear to be have been fully infantilized by Pax Americana and the thought of intervening themselves is just unthinkable.
Yes, astonishing isn’t it. That’s why all need to join and strengthen the EU with the inclusion of Ukraine. A counterpoint to US and Chinese dominance is essential. Forget Russia they are history.
It's nationalism. Every few square meters of Europe seems to hate every other few square meters, thanks to russian propaganda.
I can tell u that was the case even before Russian propaganda. Fuck Russia though.
It will be written by the victors in our second language, Russian.
The lucky ones will speak Russian as a second language. The rest won’t have a choice.
Please do not let that happen European leaders.
Let's hope they get their heads out of their arses soon.
They trusted us to hold to our country's values. We suddenly decided our allies were enemies and our authoritarian enemies were best friends. Hell, I didn't see this coming. Why the hell should they have expected we would suddenly become brain dead racist, misogynist authoritarian scum?
And all because of cowardice and greed. The greed of avoiding tough economic pressure on russia, and the cowardice of protecting russia from military defeat at every turn
Mhm, there will? Or about an America that didnt know what to life for of it constantly RAN, and sold by LIES, until it got a big orange heart attack...?
Europe could offer the Nobel Peace Prize in exchange for a few Patriots if Putin hadn’t already told Trump he’d take it by force.
🎯
Hopefully, the same book will detail how the war in Ukraine kick-started a new Europe, that became a super-power in its own right in order to maintain democratic principles while the USA decided whether to accept Christian Nationalism or not.
There was this thing that happened with unions in USA back when they were at their most powerful, they started planning to build schools, libraries, playgrounds and other infrastructure independently around union neighborhoods. The bosses came along & said "oh, don't bother. Let us do that for you"
It would be great if our leaders put on some pants. Even if that has consequences. That's what they are elected for. As European I am thoroughly sick of this Trump charade.
I totally agree, Trump is monkey with diplomatic grenade, but we eurpeans gave him the granade and can take it back anytime.
Please, please take that back while you can. Trump’s intent, well underway, is to defeat the US from within, and hand victory over far more than the US and Ukraine to Putin.
bsky.app/profile/sund...
Dialectically Europe became what its history ,including US influence, made of it. There is no economy without its history of relations with US and Russia.. photo of current economics leads to same mistake done in 2014 that the world is controllable through market ..we are a-strategic since '91 IMHO
Money & Corporations. The End.
United States of Europe wouldn't be a bystander. European Union always will be.
Lingering traumas of WWI and WWII and decades of "peace at any cost" Kremlin-sponsored propaganda.
You must be writing about the USA 🇺🇸. At least the Europeans are showing grit, empathy and unity. Areas in which the 🇺🇸 used to lead. (Russia is not doing that great, except when it comes to humiliating Trump.)
Prof., lets hope that the European states finally finally get off of the trump addiction and do the right thing for Ukraine and for Europe.
Germany mistook pacifism for antifascism for too long. It’s not too late to stop this. The USA is out, NATO without the USA will have to get the job done.
The problem, it seems, that liberal Western countries “suffer” from is their sense of doing “the right thing”. This means they are slow to judgement, they have populations who, with free speech and freedom of assembly, can actively block government reactions.
Perhaps they will rise to the occasion. Look at themselves closely, and realize they are a much more powerful force in the world than they thought. My optimistic self is thinking: "Seven Samurai" Maybe urge all those coming tomorrow to watch the film today. @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu
One of Kurosawa’s masterpieces 🙌🏆👏
The ideal in Seven Samurai is that they all have nothing left to lose. Maybe you need to be in that place before you can finally act fearlessly.
Right. Maybe depending and trusting the 🇺🇸 limited their own self-reliance. Let’s hope they find the strength to fight for Ukraine, and themselves, 🤞
Yes, yet in the end, the "villagers" step up. Let's hope those who matter in all of this "step up."
It will be better off than the US🤷🏾♀️
If there are any written at all...
Do relative population and economy sizes really matter when the other side has the biggest nuclear arsenal on the planet?
They’ll be written about hundreds of millions Americans posting their grievances to social media while their democracy is being destroyed.
This is our war too and yet we cowardly let 🇺🇦 fight it alone 🤯 #RussiaIsATerroristState committing a full-scale genocide in plain sight. It is our duty towards Humanity to help 🇺🇦 win the war. Whatever victory takes, right now 🔥 #SlavaUkraïni 🇩🇰🇱🇹🇳🇱🇸🇪🇫🇮🇵🇱🇫🇷🇩🇪🇮🇹🇪🇺🇬🇧🇳🇴🇨🇦✊🇺🇦
It’s pathetic. France and Britain could end this today by just declaring the contact lines. And saying anything west of lines is now protected by nuclear. The. End. War. Over.
I’d rather see them deploy their troops to defend all the Ukrainian northern border with Belarus and Russia, thus freeing up hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians soldiers to retake their territory.
And when Putin calls their bluff? They do nothing and look pathetic or launch missiles and the whole of Europe becomes a nuclear wasteland. Great plan!
Putin won’t do squat. You don’t understand bullies.
You seriously think Putin wouldn't move his troops forward because of a threat from Britain and France?
No chance.
Not just bystanders, but apathetic participants in a one-sided hybrid war that is waged against them, with many not even realizing what's at stake.
The reason is capitalism, stockholders, people's desires for holidays and new cars. Hard times is a myth for them and they think hiding from the truth will keep the hard times away.
👍
JFK wrote a book, "Why England Slept", which has insights into a similar situation we're in now. It was a kind of response to Churchill's "While England Slept" (mostly letters & memorandum) These dangerous situations we find ourselves in now could be useful to know history.
Vous parlez en triste sire, ce n'est pas fini, cela ne fait que commencer. Cheers