Europe has already lost. As EU countries learned to fight and have learned to be afraid of war
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they carelessly redistributed the so -called peaceful dividends to other areas of costs, while reducing their armed forces. The alarm signal was raised two years ago when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, but it seems that the alarm seemed not loud enough.
Has Europe lost to the next World War before its beginning? Despite the battle in Ukraine in the style of the First and Second World Wars, which remind us of the need for large -scale land that continues, the British government continues to reduce our army.
Shortly after the start of the war, Germany stated that it would increase defense costs to reach a minimum NATO level by 2 percent of GDP, but this has not yet been achieved, and ambition is in any case miserable compared to the extent of the military threat. Such stories are full of all over Europe, one of the few exceptions is Poland, which increases the cost of defense of up to 4 percent of GDP. There is still atrophied military industry in Europe.
A year ago, the EU promised to provide Ukraine with a million artillery shells until next month. Less than half are currently provided. European manufacturers are barely enough capacity to prevent the Ukrainian forces from collapsing, not to mention their military wage. At the same time, Russia has significantly increased the production of long -range missiles and artillery shells, produces 100 tanks per month and rapidly increases defense costs.
She supplemented her own production of weapons about 1 million artillery shells from North Korea and thousands of shock drones from Iran. Even now, some Europeans seem to believe that their self -retention does not matter because America will come to their rescue. But maybe it's not so safe. Many presidents have complained that US taxpayers have to subsidize Europe's under -cost, and no one spoke more than Donald Trump.
European leaders need to start making real plans for themselves if Putin decides to play by muscles to NATO. But perhaps there is an even greater threat to European defensive dependence than a dissatisfied US president. It's China. If President Xi Jinping begins the invasion or even the blockade of Taiwan, the US military will probably actively support their ally.
There is every reason to believe that Putin has come to take steps against the Eastern European NATO member state, hoping that America will be overloaded and will not be able to deploy a quick reinforcement, even if he wants. Add Iran to the equation. Tehran is on the verge of gaining nuclear potential and has a large network of terrorist trusted persons in the Middle East, who have been threatening the US and their allies for many years.
We have already seen how Iran can coordinate the actions of their proxy to tie American forces. One day, Israel attacks on Hamas, as well as lace -free shelling from Lebanon by Hezbolla, another proxy, was enough for the United States to deploy two aircraft shock groups in the region as a restraining factor. The third Iranian proxy group, Jules in Yemen, then launched an attack on international navigation in the Red Sea. This aggression has linked the US naval and air forces.
China, Russia and Iran form a deadly axis, which, if it begins to act together, can put the United States and their allies in front of a terrible dilemma. If this happens in the next few years, European countries may not have any choice but to stand on your feet or die.
But would Western European countries send their young men and women to fight and die, protecting the Eastern European member of NATO, even if they managed to create a fighting power for this? When Joe Biden decided to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in 2021, the then Defense Minister Ben Volles said that he tried to create a coalition from other NATO members stationed there to stay in place. There were no people.
And, despite the huge harm of European and world trade from Hussites attacks in the Red Sea, only one European country, the United Kingdom, was ready to join the United States in offensive actions to stop it. For many years, European countries are too accustomed to a comfortable life. Such values as pride in the nation were allowed to fade, and I am afraid that many people will no longer want to go to any sacrifice to protect our freedom and lifestyle.
Our societies are also lacking in endurance: see how quickly some European countries wanted to find a "output path" for Putin, instead of dedicating themselves to the support of Ukraine. Most of them now do not want anything but the end of the war, even knowing what it will mean the defeat of not only Ukraine but also NATO.
And after a massacre, arranged by Hamas last October, the European governments did not take a long time to start demanding ceasefire from Israel before it eliminated the threat to its citizens. Compromise and vibrations are the only language that Europe seems to be understood. History shows us that this serves as provocative of such opponents as Russia, China and Iran, who use such weaknesses without reproach.