this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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Summary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Ukraine would lose the war if the U.S., its primary military supporter, cuts funding.

Speaking to Fox News, he stressed the importance of unity between the U.S. and Ukraine as Russia accelerates its territorial gains.

Zelensky acknowledged Ukraine’s challenges on the battlefield, despite new U.S. weapon supplies, including long-range missiles and anti-personnel land mines.

He criticized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for engaging with Putin, calling it a risky move.

Trump has pledged to end the war quickly but offered no specifics.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I'm all for America funding as much as possible, but FFS Europe, the monster is ringing your doorbell.

[–] [email protected] 82 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

That reads as if the EU is just sitting on its hands and doing nothing. Please keep in mind that there is significant financial support coming from the EU:

image

Source: https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

Where the EU cannot compete with the US is in the supply of military goods. For the simple reason that these do not exist to the extent that the US has them.


Edit: I have to correct myself in a detail. The graph of course shows Europe not the EU. So it includes e.g. the UK as well. The point still stands though looking on the rest of the data.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

Jesus fuck that really puts it into perspective how much larger the United States military complex is. I want to to see this combined with the Israeli financing. I mean is what we bitch about being bad over budgeting of the defense budget or whatever it falls under really just a means of paying other countries to fight battles they used to send US soldiers to fight? Did I just become pro-military complex?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Nice sources! Puts things in perspective for me. I really mean that.

Still doesn't change the fact that the enemy is at the gates. And has been for decades. And it ain't America's gates. Which is not to say, "Not our problem." It eventually will be our problem.

Europe has to spin up a war economy. Yesterday. We Americans have the privilege of being able to do that with two oceans buffering us. Europe has no such buffer. Once again, the filthy Russians are knocking.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Europe ARE doing a lot. We just don't have as much of an aging stockpile of weapons as the US does. Also when turned into financial contribution you need to convert it to a percentage of GDP.

Well, turns out someone made that data available.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1303450/bilateral-aid-to-ukraine-in-a-percent-of-donor-gdp/
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

Europe most certainly are doing their part.

However, that's not the real fear. The USA is going into a new presidential term, a term where the house, senate and the supreme court are going to likely side with the president on most things.

The USA can put significant pressure on European countries. If we're to believe Trump is really working in Putin's favour then, as well as stopping US aid, there's not too much stopping the US pressuring Europe from doing the same. That is my real fear. I think without US support this is hard, very hard for Europe to fill that gap. But, we certainly can still try.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

To add some context to the numbers. Coming from Denmark which tops the chart, I can tell you that the top donors are getting sick and tired of big countries e.g. Germany and French providing way less resources. Bigger economies and military industries, yet the small countries of Europe donate the most. Different political situations of course. Still crazy that Germany are sort of "meh" considering their history with Russia.