3 ms·

I think this is long overdue, just like Europe's sudden investment in militaries to pull its weight in global defence. More competition is better.

noosphr 2y ago
Global military competition is usually called a world war and is generally a bad thing.
- jeffrallen 2y ago
  The best defense is a good offense.
- graemep 2y ago
  If you want peace, prepare for war.
- ekianjo 2y ago
  A single superpower is called living in servitude so pick your poison
- jajko 2y ago
  Well if one big dictatorship bully starts attacking around for made up reasons, stating wiping out half of continent with nuclear strikes repeatedly, or just roll over the place with a massive conventional army to enslave its population... only a fool remains still. And worse than fool in case of said dictatorship which already enslaved half of said continent for decades in the recent past, infecting those societies with their corrupt ways of life, terror and ruling that still affect those places to this day very negatively. I know about this a bit since I was raised in one such place and saw it all before, during and after fall of Iron curtain. Russians/Soviets were feared even when they were liberating these lands from nazis - they stole everything they could from common folks (soldiers carrying many watches on their hands that needed to be removed in propaganda photos later) and raped whom they could. Not all of them just to be clear, but many many (stories of my grandparents).
ta1243 2y ago
Europe has tried this in the past and the US has vetoed it. The dirty secret is America wants Europe to spend more money with American companies, not just spend more on defence. America would rather 80% of a 100b defence industry than 20% of a 300b defence industry, both from a financial point of view and from a strategic point of view.
- toxicunderGroov 2y ago
  They had a good thing going on but that will stop the moment our infrastructure is in place. And pretty soon like the US Europe will be looking to get a return on those investments :)
- philipallstar 2y ago
  > The dirty secret is America wants Europe to spend more money with American companies Well of course. Just as Europe wants American businesses to spend more money on the EU through fines.
  - ta1243 2y ago
    Europe wants American companies to follow European laws when operating in Europe, same as it wants European companies to follow European laws when operating in Europe. America does not want Europe to have its own defence industry, as this makes Europe less reliant on America. Now I would argue that Europe needs to treat IT services (cloud etc) as a strategic importance like Food and Defence, and America has shown - not just over the last few months, but increasingly over the last decade, that it may not be the reliable partner Europe once thought it was. That would mean subsidising IT in Europe and increasing barriers to non-european services -- i.e. artificially increasing costs of AWS and Azure, but Europe hasn't done that yet.

noosphr 2y ago

Global military competition is usually called a world war and is generally a bad thing.

jeffrallen 2y ago
The best defense is a good offense.
graemep 2y ago
If you want peace, prepare for war.
ekianjo 2y ago
A single superpower is called living in servitude so pick your poison
jajko 2y ago
Well if one big dictatorship bully starts attacking around for made up reasons, stating wiping out half of continent with nuclear strikes repeatedly, or just roll over the place with a massive conventional army to enslave its population... only a fool remains still. And worse than fool in case of said dictatorship which already enslaved half of said continent for decades in the recent past, infecting those societies with their corrupt ways of life, terror and ruling that still affect those places to this day very negatively. I know about this a bit since I was raised in one such place and saw it all before, during and after fall of Iron curtain. Russians/Soviets were feared even when they were liberating these lands from nazis - they stole everything they could from common folks (soldiers carrying many watches on their hands that needed to be removed in propaganda photos later) and raped whom they could. Not all of them just to be clear, but many many (stories of my grandparents).

ta1243 2y ago

Europe has tried this in the past and the US has vetoed it. The dirty secret is America wants Europe to spend more money with American companies, not just spend more on defence. America would rather 80% of a 100b defence industry than 20% of a 300b defence industry, both from a financial point of view and from a strategic point of view.

toxicunderGroov 2y ago
They had a good thing going on but that will stop the moment our infrastructure is in place. And pretty soon like the US Europe will be looking to get a return on those investments :)
philipallstar 2y ago
> The dirty secret is America wants Europe to spend more money with American companies Well of course. Just as Europe wants American businesses to spend more money on the EU through fines.
- ta1243 2y ago
  Europe wants American companies to follow European laws when operating in Europe, same as it wants European companies to follow European laws when operating in Europe. America does not want Europe to have its own defence industry, as this makes Europe less reliant on America. Now I would argue that Europe needs to treat IT services (cloud etc) as a strategic importance like Food and Defence, and America has shown - not just over the last few months, but increasingly over the last decade, that it may not be the reliable partner Europe once thought it was. That would mean subsidising IT in Europe and increasing barriers to non-european services -- i.e. artificially increasing costs of AWS and Azure, but Europe hasn't done that yet.