I wonder. This place thinks we are better than most, but I wonder if it is because the defence industry is so embedded in the power structures that they never get caught.
The link at the end does not take you to https://government.defenceindex.org/ ? The post/edit window buttons are not working for me so I am writing in bbcode, but it works for me.
I just tried on mobile and laptop. Site runs much more smoothly on my laptop. (on mobile, it loads, but essentially unusable)
Edit: Nevermind, it was a zoom issue. That page has a bunch of links at the top that don't seem to do anything. On my mobile those links took up 90% of the screen, covering up the map.
I think EU should just melt into a federation akin to US and build up up it's common armed forces and pool the states resources into whatever % percentage is enough to deter Russia and/or appease NATO. Also make it vey clear to whatever POTUS is in charge that if the US fails to come to our aid than it's trade embargo, you don't help us we don't buy from you stuff we don't vitally need!
I think EU should just melt into a federation akin to US and build up up it's common armed forces and pool the states resources into whatever % percentage is enough to deter Russia and/or appease NATO. Also make it vey clear to whatever POTUS is in charge that if the US fails to come to our aid than it's trade embargo, you don't help us we don't buy from you stuff we don't vitally need!
The odds of the majority of EU citizens voting to replace the current union construct with a federation, are likely zero. The EU is a union of sovereign nations, some of which have been national states since the Middle Ages or Renaissance era.
Imo we aren't going to re-invent our own identities, just because the Russian state acts as a basket case death cult these years. Putin will be gone soon enough anyway. Same goes for Trump; he'll be gone from the political stage by 2029. In this part of Europe where I live, we usually think in the long term, because we can enjoy relative political and economic stability.
The lack of will for a federation, however, is in no way a positive trait of this "union".
And since it isn't united, it can't have a common defense policy either - at least not if things actually come to real threat of war.
I'd say it's two-sided coin. Nothing wrong with wanting enough independence and diversity of thought so that it does not devolve into two-party America 2 0. But yes, with diversity of thought comes inability to form common terms. I'd rather refine what we have than replace it with Federation.
Europe doesn't have to spend the same percentage as Russia in GDP terms. This is because Europe has higher GDP per person, as well as many more people. So a smaller percentage is more actual purchasing power.
But where that falls apart is that with many independent militaries in an alliance, each of those has to be able to fill a slot and work together. And much of it probably can't do so, all that well. Also rediness of some of the nation's militaries is reportedly poor. So they can't just pick up and relocate to a battle zone and operate effectively. And this is wasteful of money, so that the total that has to be spent is made somewhat larger, raising what each nation should contribute. 2.5-3% would probably be enough, were if fairly well spent. Smaller nations can't deliver divisions of troops, but should instead fill specialty roles.
I think we either federate or I don't think the EU will outlast Putin's agression and or Chinese economic pressure. If we pool our military together we don't need NATO, just a mutual defence alliance from both the US and UK and then we wouldn't need be discussing how much % further we have put into defence to appease whatever POTUS is in charge.
But I also don't believe we have the leaders or people with a vision to want/wish for a EU federation. The Mercosur deal exposed there are cracks inside the EU as dangerous as Russian agression.
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