Helping Ukraine Is Europe’s Job Now
www.theatlantic.com
Trump is closer to Putin than to any of the continent’s democratic leaders.

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European leaders should have started preparing for another Trump presidency long ago. They had been warned.

Now, leaders should envisage a world where NATO no longer exists—or where the United States is no longer the leading force in the alliance, writes Phillips Payson O’Brien, Professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland. He is the author of The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler—How War Made Them, and How They Made War.

“In some ways, this is more scary psychologically than in practice. Europe—which is to say, the democratic countries enmeshed in institutions such as NATO and the European Union—has the economic and technological resources to underwrite a serious defense effort. It has a large and educated enough population to staff modern armed forces. It also has some strong and growing military capabilities. For instance, European states either have received or will receive in the coming years as many as 600 F-35 fighters—the most advanced and capable aircraft in the world. Such a force could dominate the skies against a clearly inferior Russian opponent.”

[Edit to include the link.]

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      3 days ago

      I have to say, that was a sub-par attempt at a straw man argument. I’ve seen far better.

      Alas, the existence of US military bases outside of the US does not mean that Russia invading Ukraine is the US’s fault – It’s Russia’s fault.

      You are also deliberately calling NATO bases US bases. They aren’t. They are NATO bases. NATO is a defence treaty where every member joined willingly. In fact, more are seeking to join, because of Russia’s aggression.

      And yes, you are a tankie. Plain and simple.

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          61·
          3 days ago

          Now show me these hundreds of others of US bases in Europe.

          Oh wait, you can’t. They have 128 bases in total outside of the US, with a disproportionate amount of those in South Korea. Ergo, your claim that there are hundreds of them in Europe was a complete fabrication.

          You evidently do not understand geopolitics if you believe Russia invading Ukraine is the US’s war.

          And as for yelling slurs… mate, you literally just called myself and others mentally disabled for disagreeing with your pro-Russia tankie nonsense.

          Now, I don’t know where you’re from, but where I live, calling someone disabled as an insult is definitely frowned upon, and considered a slur.

    • 0x815@feddit.orgOPEnglish
      112·
      3 days ago

      @zante@slrpnk.net

      Do yourself a favor and stay away from wherever you get this stuff.

      These US military bases are Nato bases, and no country has ever been ‘forced’ to join the alliance. Its latest members, Sweden and Finland, have been committed to neutrality for decades, and only joined after Russia invaded Ukraine. Neutrality may work well if your neighbors commit to international law and human rights, which is unfortunately not a given as we learnt once again in February 2022.

    • federal reverse@feddit.orgMEnglish
      81·
      3 days ago

      the number of people that can consider geopolitics beyond the childlike concept of goodies and baddies, is very small.

      a learned man like yourself will already know

      Your political views notwithstanding — your condescending attitude is not helping.