Winner
Diverse in Unity
One of the burning issues and a topic of almost every US-EU political debate is the apparent military weakness of Europe, as perceived in comparison to the US. I often hear overly simplified explanations of this condition, usually blaming the alleged 'softness' or 'cowardice' of Europeans.
So let's examine the sources of our military weakness, without prejudices and foolish pride:
a) Structural differences between the US (UK) and continental European armed forces.
During the Cold war, a 'division of labour' between the US and continental European armies was set up. European armies were built and trained to withstand, slow down and eventually stop a massive Soviet land invasion of Western Europe. To do this, they were equipped with large amounts of high-tech armored vehicles (tanks, AFV's, APC's, artillery) and relied on conscription. On the other hand, cont. European armies lacked the capabilites to deploy forces oversees, in other words, the power projection capabilities so important in today's world.
US, on the other hand, relied especially on this - their task in any war with Soviet Union was to move as many soldiers to Europe as they could as quickly as possible.
After the end of the Cold war, this 'division of labour' left the US perfectly prepared for a new kind of tasks we face in the today's world.
b) Inability to reform and increase military spending
Military spending is often considered to be the sole source of European weakness. That's not accurate, unfortunately. EU countries spend about 40% of what the US gives to its military. If that also meant that Europe has 40% of the US military capabilities, it would be fine, unfortunately, that's not true. At present, the estimates vary, but range from 5 to 20% of the US capabilities.
The problem lies in the obsolete structure of the European militaries and in the fact they are still separate - 25 different militaries with independent command structures. Moreover, European armies are still acting like the Cold War was still on - EU countries have more than 2 million soldiers in arms and large amounts of heavy armored vehicles. In fact, EU would probably be able to start an invasion of Russia, but is completely unable to send more than 60.000 troops to a peacekeeping mission.
Of course, the low military expenditures are a problem, but they don't fully explain the lack of European power projection capacities. The true answer is that European militaries need profound and deep reform, large reductions of unnecessary personel and equipment and shift to modern ways of command and communication. With reasonable military spending, European armies are able to sharply increase the number of troops they can deploy, they just need to rethink the priorities.
c) Cynism of the European political elites and invibiality of the welfare state
I dare to say that European leaders know all this stuff I am telling you here. They know what needs to be done, but they don't do it, because it is not in their interest. Military expenditures are the prime target of most of budget cuts - every time politicians need some money, usually to keep the collapsing welfare states going, they take it from the military. In this situation, any reforms that need money to be finished in reasonable time are out of question.
Many Americans say that Europe is weak because Europeans got soft. That's not true. If you look at opinion polls, you will find that the views of both Americans and Europeans on the issues of world politics are usually very similar. Europeans are not much less willing to use force to protect their interests, they just don't have the elites willing to listen to them. Military operations are not on top of their agenda.
To be self-critical, I must admit that the welfare state and near socialism that consumes a huge part of EU-member's budgets is a great problem, especially for the future. Without getting rid of that, we won't have the extra money to fund military capabilities to support our global interests. Still, we should be able to build forces large enough to keep the peace in Europe's backyard without any help from outside.
One final note - Germany is the most important country. They have enormous potential, but they have to reform their military and increase their spending. Germany has to take its deal of responsibility and stop being afraid of its own military.
So let's examine the sources of our military weakness, without prejudices and foolish pride:
a) Structural differences between the US (UK) and continental European armed forces.
During the Cold war, a 'division of labour' between the US and continental European armies was set up. European armies were built and trained to withstand, slow down and eventually stop a massive Soviet land invasion of Western Europe. To do this, they were equipped with large amounts of high-tech armored vehicles (tanks, AFV's, APC's, artillery) and relied on conscription. On the other hand, cont. European armies lacked the capabilites to deploy forces oversees, in other words, the power projection capabilities so important in today's world.
US, on the other hand, relied especially on this - their task in any war with Soviet Union was to move as many soldiers to Europe as they could as quickly as possible.
After the end of the Cold war, this 'division of labour' left the US perfectly prepared for a new kind of tasks we face in the today's world.
b) Inability to reform and increase military spending
Military spending is often considered to be the sole source of European weakness. That's not accurate, unfortunately. EU countries spend about 40% of what the US gives to its military. If that also meant that Europe has 40% of the US military capabilities, it would be fine, unfortunately, that's not true. At present, the estimates vary, but range from 5 to 20% of the US capabilities.
The problem lies in the obsolete structure of the European militaries and in the fact they are still separate - 25 different militaries with independent command structures. Moreover, European armies are still acting like the Cold War was still on - EU countries have more than 2 million soldiers in arms and large amounts of heavy armored vehicles. In fact, EU would probably be able to start an invasion of Russia, but is completely unable to send more than 60.000 troops to a peacekeeping mission.
Of course, the low military expenditures are a problem, but they don't fully explain the lack of European power projection capacities. The true answer is that European militaries need profound and deep reform, large reductions of unnecessary personel and equipment and shift to modern ways of command and communication. With reasonable military spending, European armies are able to sharply increase the number of troops they can deploy, they just need to rethink the priorities.
c) Cynism of the European political elites and invibiality of the welfare state
I dare to say that European leaders know all this stuff I am telling you here. They know what needs to be done, but they don't do it, because it is not in their interest. Military expenditures are the prime target of most of budget cuts - every time politicians need some money, usually to keep the collapsing welfare states going, they take it from the military. In this situation, any reforms that need money to be finished in reasonable time are out of question.
Many Americans say that Europe is weak because Europeans got soft. That's not true. If you look at opinion polls, you will find that the views of both Americans and Europeans on the issues of world politics are usually very similar. Europeans are not much less willing to use force to protect their interests, they just don't have the elites willing to listen to them. Military operations are not on top of their agenda.
To be self-critical, I must admit that the welfare state and near socialism that consumes a huge part of EU-member's budgets is a great problem, especially for the future. Without getting rid of that, we won't have the extra money to fund military capabilities to support our global interests. Still, we should be able to build forces large enough to keep the peace in Europe's backyard without any help from outside.
One final note - Germany is the most important country. They have enormous potential, but they have to reform their military and increase their spending. Germany has to take its deal of responsibility and stop being afraid of its own military.
