Quote from: Zlantann on February 20, 2025, 08:59:52 PM

Quote from: paxmao on February 20, 2025, 12:44:16 PM

Europe has been getting the "peace dividend" of bein under NATO umbrella, but that is no longer there so... time to act. As Borrel said, you cannot be a sheep in a world of wolves.

It is not too late for Europe to start developing military capacities because the US under Donald Trump cannot be trusted. China was able to copy US military equipment and they are producing cheaper but effective versions. Europe has been busy relying on the US for protection and investing little in defence. Reports showed that Poland and Estonia were the biggest spenders on defence among NATO nations in the first half of 2024, what are other big member states doing? They need to increase their defence budget to at least 5% of GDP to fund research and arms production.

Since the US has decided to be friendly with Russia, European nations would have to seek new partnerships. I am sure that some countries in Africa, Asia and South America will be willing to work with European countries..

Europe's future doesn't look bright. Their policies had made them dependent on other nations and their manufacturing and industry is lagging behind. Europe is no longer the leader in R&D and their intellectual property are either expired or obsolete. They have no large natural resource reserve to exploit. They might fuel their nuclear generators through Uranium from Canada and Australia but they no longer have the capacity to create a new one.
The projection for 2030 states the top 5 economy to be US, China, India, Indonesia and Brazil. All of which are moving away from Europe due to their policies. Even though they trade with Europe, it would be Europe importing more and exporting nothing.