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The EU would only go along with this because the US has them by the proverbial balls. European militaries are a joke and there is no domestic political support
by legalcorrection 5y ago
The EU would only go along with this because the US has them by the proverbial balls. European militaries are a joke and there is no domestic political support for building them up.
- isodev 5y agoYou are assuming the US is leading the effort, which is not the case. Also EU and US are partners and allies and so mutual support is expected.
- Kina 5y agoAmerica represents 40% of NATO forces. America guarantees the physical security of Europe in consultation with the governments of these nations, but there is an inherent power imbalance here.
- thomasahle 5y agoIn this particular conflict, the stakes for the EU is much higher than for the US. Sure, the US is historically (recent) more happy to go into conflicts around the world, but this is a conflict bordering many EU states. The Baltics, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania definitely aren't happy seeing Putin on their doorsteps.
- m2fkxy 5y agoA reminder that two of Western Europe's militaries are nuclear, which hardly makes them "a joke". You seem to be projecting the state of Germany's military to all European forces, which is... questionable.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoThe nuclear arsenals of France and the UK are a bit meager relative to Russia and the US. That doesn't mean that they can't inflict a good bit of damage but MAD isn't in play with them unless the US is backing them up with its own nuclear arsenal.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ascar 5y agoA combined amount of about 500 nuclear warheads sounds like enough for mutual assured destruction or even nuclear winter, no? That's enough to send two warheads to every single city with over 100k population in Russia and then there would be the Russian retaliation...
- m2fkxy 5y agoFrench (and probably British, although I know it less) doctrine is not MAD - it is to incur "unacceptable damages" to an offender. And 500-ish combined warheads sure sounds like it can achieve that.
- aluminum96 5y agoKeep in mind that most modern nuclear warheads are MIRV weapons, which dramatically amplifies the scope of the damage. These aren't Truman's nukes anymore.
- brimble 5y agoThe EU collectively outclasses every likely regional aggressor or likely regional coalition, and can project power better than any but a handful of other states (most of which are unproven against that challenge). Throw in Britain and only the US—which is in a mutual defense pact with several EU states—is clearly ahead of them. How's that "a joke"?
- legalcorrection 5y agoEuropean countries could barely sustain bombing runs during the Libya intervention. They struggled to consistently field single digit number of planes at the same time.