Summary
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron held a call to discuss the potential implications of Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency for Europe.
The leaders pledged to strengthen cooperation for a “more united, stronger, more sovereign Europe” in light of this possibility. Macron emphasized a commitment to European sovereignty while maintaining cooperation with the U.S. Additionally, German and French defense ministers plan to meet to coordinate on defense policies.
Trump’s ambiguous stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine and his critical view of NATO burden-sharing raise concerns in Europe about future U.S.-Europe relations.
Well that’s one good thing to come from the election. Best case scenario America just fucks itself over (and not the rest of the world) while giving all of the EU a common enemy to help further strengthen the bonds.
I don’t think you understand. The faction taking over won’t stop with the US. They want unfettered power. They’re well aware American military might exceeds the rest of the world combined by tenfold and will eventually use it to intimidate or destroy anyone in their way, after subjugating our own citizenry of course.
You guys better ramp up arms production and switch to a partial wartime stance. Because Russia isn’t going to stop with Ukraine.
They’ve got nukes though, and plenty of conventional fire power (compared to Ukraine when it was invaded).
They need to invest in a non US lead command structure as that’s all using US tech and personnel.
Europe needs to step up on Ukraine. NATO is out of the picture, the EU needs to stand in its place.
Europe needs to step up on Ukraine.
Realistically, I doubt the western european public opinions are ready to accept 20 year old kids coming home in a coffin. If we put boots on the ground, I expect the war to be more deadly than recent middle-east operations.
So while we could kick of Russia ass, I don’t think we’re ready to pay the political price, at least for Ukraine.
Ironically I think policy support would have been much easier had we put boots on the ground right away. There was initially enormous support for Ukraine, and sending out own soldiers would have given voters a continued vested interest in the war.
Not saying the outcome would have been better, and there is always the threat of nuclear war. However, it would totally changed the course and focus of elections, and my impression is that voters like it when politicians take risks, even if it doesn’t pan out (and even if it’s suicidally stupid).
Western Europe, yep, there’s not much appetite for that. Southern, neither, Northern, I wouldn’t count them out, Baltics will look to the North, Central (without Germany)… basically the only reason Poland didn’t put boots on the ground yet is NATO.
The French might get involved for dignity’s sake, but on a backfoot – special forces, long-range operations. Also sending French MREs is always a good idea.
EDIT: Oh, Italy. Meloni hates Putin’s guts, the FDI may go in even without appetite because well the “post” in “post-fascist” doesn’t mean that they’ve got rid of fascists’ admiration for war, just the more obvious self-defeating aspects. Struggles of national sovereignty seem to be right up their alley. Greece is too broke either way and Turkey will be on Turkey’s side.
That’s not entirely correct. While the US is without a doubt the biggest part of (and contributor to) NATO, it consists of a few other nations as well. But you are absolutely right that Europe needs to get their shit together because it is very likely that the US will scale down their NATO involvement
Trump’s ambiguous stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine and his critical view of NATO burden-sharing raise concerns in Europe about future U.S.-Europe relations.
Absolutely nothing ambiguous about it. Everyone knows where he stands. Exactly where every lapdog stands, behind and slightly off to the side of their master…
Everyone knows where he stands.
I strongly suspect that isn’t true. I think anti-Trump people know where he stands, but I bet a lot of pro-Trump people are about to be in for a big surprise.
Ah, yes…the old “leopards are eating people’s faces, but how was I supposed to know that it’d be my face?” bit.
Yeah no one saw a need for this EIGHT YEARS AGO?!
Some did. Then most were happy to go back to sleep as Biden won in 2020. Trump was ignorantly considered a hiccup instead of the expression of a deeper issue with the US.
As the election today showed so did the US Democrats think things could just continue in the same way. And here we are again.
