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> many Europeans deride the “need” for higher defence spending. This is due to Europeans’ perception that American military adventurism is what creates the inst
by HDMI_Cable 3y ago
> many Europeans deride the “need” for higher defence spending. This is due to Europeans’ perception that American military adventurism is what creates the instability from which Europe requires American protection in the first place.
Right, European countries thought that, then the War in Ukraine happened. Germany, France, and other European nations have all increased their military budgets [1], indicating that they were, unfortunately, wrong. It's clear now that we still live in a world where conquest is still on the forefront of many dictator's minds.
And that's disregarding Europe's own adventures in other countries; just look at France's parlays into Mali or Mauritania, Greece and Turkey, or Italy and their actions in the Mediterranean.
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[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/24/defence-spending-in-western-and-central-europe-tops-last-year-of-cold-war https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/24/defence-spendi...
- Convolutional 3y ago[dead]
- dang 3y agoWe've banned this account for using HN primarily for political battle. Accounts like that aren't allowed here, regardless of what they're battling for or against—i.e. it doesn't have to do with your specific views. It's just not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
- 3dbrows 3y agoI would agree that the worldview of Europe is changing, given the sharp reality of its defences being tested. Europe is of course (to state the extremely obvious) no stranger to its own imperial adventures. We might do well to stop that if we don’t want to trigger refugee flows and other outcomes we don’t want.