this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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The report is absolutely scathing. Some choice quotes:

But when the next crisis came, both the US and the governments of Europe fell back on old models of alliance leadership. Europe, as EU high representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell loudly lamented prior to Russia’s invasion, is not really at the table when it comes to dealing with the Russia-Ukraine crisis. It has instead embarked on a process of vassalisation.

But “alone” had a very specific meaning for Scholz. He was unwilling to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine unless the US also sent its own main battle tank, the M1 Abrams. It was not enough that other partners would send tanks or that the US might send other weapons. Like a scared child in a room full of strangers, Germany felt alone if Uncle Sam was not holding its hand.

Europeans’ lack of agency in the Russia-Ukraine crisis stems from this growing power imbalance in the Western alliance. Under the Biden administration, the US has become ever more willing to exercise this growing influence.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (14 children)

Like a scared child in a room full of strangers, Germany felt alone if Uncle Sam was not holding its hand.

From another angle Germany twisted the US' arm until they did what we wanted them to do. Atlanticism in Germany is right-wing, the SPD certainly has its faults but worshipping the US is not one of them.

The nations of Europe are not currently capable to defend themselves and so they have no choice but to rely on the US in a crisis

Against who? Aliens? Who is this hypothetical enemy that can invade Europe? Capabilities aren't exactly as they should be, it would be nasty going against a rogue US, yes, but we could still bring the whole thing to a stalemate even if it would necessitate a couple of French nukes getting dropped on carrier groups.

...and don't get me started on them wanking off to the dollar value of US contributions. Much of what they send should be valued negatively (in monetary terms) because it's surplus and they're saving on disposal costs. Meanwhile, if the EU had the US' ammunition production capacity Ukraine would've run out by now.

The US has been pussy-footing around this whole conflict, see e.g. the row about ATACMs, the UK had to send Storm Shadow (which they don't exactly have a surplus of, to the contrary) to twist the US' arm.


What many analysts don't seem to get into their head, it just doesn't fit their framework, is that Europe as a whole is a lot more "hawkish" in this conflict than the US, leading to all kinds of misinterpretations. "But Europe is so peace-loving and warm and fuzzy" -- no, motherfucker, we hate imperialism. That's all there is to it. We have plenty of former Russian colonies in the union and with shit going down as it went, the western members finally understood that no, Russia can't be reasoned with, or even be counted on to act in self-interest, instead of chalking the eastern member's attitude up to PTSD.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Yeah, but a lot of it comes from Europe not choosing to lead on any international crisis, to the point where it has intentionally designed its defense to require the US to participate.

I look at it like this, the EU should have its own independent military from NATO given its size and wealth. Yet, it chooses to be entirely dependent on NATO and needs the US to help in any sort of projection of force.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which is a huge misunderstanding of how Europe works. It's not federal like the US and would require all countries to agree to a centralised army. Many countries are rightly concerned about the concept and what it would mean for their own sovereign armed forces so won't approve the idea.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Or it is federal in the same way the Holy Roman Empire was.

And the concern that European politicians seem to have is that an EU army would require the EU to define military policy rather than just follow US military policy. It isn't that the EU couldn't be made to gain greater competencies in military and diplomatic areas, it is that the various EU nations are happier letting the US define that instead.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What are you talking about? Every country in Europe already has its own military and the EU has a defensive clause it the pact.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Every country in Europe already has its own military

And each American state has its own military as well that is controlled by the different governors.

and the EU has a defensive clause it the pact

And the base for that defense pact is NATO headquarters. This is also only defense only, which makes cases where the EU needs to respond to threats on its frontier difficult because there is no organizing entity to handle this issue. And if the defense pact was the reason for inter-EU defense, it is going to be through the lens of NATO, which gives the US a pretty big say on EU defense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It really is a matter of European countries keeping to the defense spending requirements they have already committed to under NATO. A lot of Europeans I talk to claim that it is wasteful, and that money is better spent on foreign aide. But meanwhile, the US still foots the bill for their defense. This is an intense able situation - the US cannot put the entire world on ots back. Multilaterlaism has to mean cooperation from the rest of the world to ensure safety.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

But it is more than that. A lot of EU nations don't have a military of a size capable of more than just basic infantry. This has been a problem for NATO as the US has created a lot of the logistics and specialty platforms required to fight a modern war that a lot of other nations don't pay into.

The EU is already seeing the merging of several military units because it is cheaper to develop them at scale. At that point, why not just have all of the EU create and manage the joint arms at a level where it makes more sense?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's a lot of words just to say "Germany hesitated about sending tanks to Ukraine therefore the US is now the colonial master of Europe."

Apparently that's all it takes. Just a slight hesitation on a decision and you lose all sovereignty forever.

Or maybe the hesitation over the tanks was a little disappointing, but not really that big a deal. Calm down people.

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[–] Varyk 6 points 1 year ago (11 children)

If by "scathing," you mean one-sided reporting ignoring political context and contemporary events, then yes. It's very"scathing".

By "scathing", do you mean reiterating in extremist language the same thing European leaders have said over the past few months, that the EU relies to heavily on US military force?

Cool example of propagandizing old news. Making good news bad is your style.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (9 children)

And yet countries, given free choice, came running to NATO. Curious 🤔

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Over the last decade, the EU has grown relatively less powerful than America – economically, technologically, and militarily.

I got curious about this so I checked wolframalpha: in 2009, the EU had a bigger economy than the USA; in 2022 the USA's was bigger by 53%

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

We will see how it plays out long term, but it seems to me that the US is hollowing out Europe to enrich themselves in their economic war against China. If you don't believe that, look what the US is doing to encourage manufacturers to leave Europe and move to the US, or the fact that they overcharge Europe on fossil fuels.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think that's precisely what's happening, the amazing part is how many Europeans refuse to acknowledge it because they painted themselves into a situation where they're entirely reliant on US for protection now.

[–] bernieecclestoned 1 points 1 year ago

Because that's not true. UK and France combined could take most militaries.

[–] bernieecclestoned 1 points 1 year ago (37 children)

China has placed itself at the heart of many critical supply chains that the US and its allies depend on. It has defined itself in cultural and ideological opposition to the US and to the idea of democracy, using its new wealth to spread the techniques of authoritarian control to every continent on Earth.

Glad you're finally posting some truth about China's authoritarianism, instead of your deluded nonsense about comnunism

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