Europe is capable of sustaining Ukraine’s resistance against Russia, even if the United States were to decide to completely halt its military support to Kyiv, the senior military official in charge of coordinating Germany’s arms supplies told Reuters.
Major General Christian Freuding said NATO’s European members plus Canada had already exceeded the estimated $20 billion worth of U.S. military aid provided last year to Kyiv.
They accounted for around 60% of the total costs borne by the Western allies, he said.
“The war against Ukraine is raging on our continent, it is also being waged against the European security order. If the political will is there, then the means will also be there to largely compensate for the American support,” Freuding said in an interview.
Man I’m glad to hear that, cause the US isn’t exactly a dependable ally right now 😅 (sorry, I wish we were 🥲)
I don’t think America can ever be considered reliable or an ally during my remaining life ever again.
Just curiosity, which generation are you? Personally, I had this feeling during the second Iraq war.
Clearly. That’s when they showed that they’d attack anyone out of greed. Like they did in Irak.
Sadam was a brutal dictator, and I’m glad he’s gone, but fabricating proofs of weapon of mass destruction as casus belli…I remember well that some, like the French, did not fall for it (having their own spy satellites sure helps, I suppose), but I do remember the mockery about the French surrendering once again. Well they were right in the end. I remember some GoP politician trying to rename French fries to Liberty fries. A petty way to try to get back at them, I suppose.
I kinda feel the issues happening in the US will be resolved soonish. And by resolved I mean, either the US will fall apart, and add you said will continue to be unreliable, or trumpisn will be defeated
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The root goes further than Trump. But Trump sure showed the ugly face of US then hidden shadow.
This is true. It’s also true that Europe needs to have the capacity to handle something like this on their own. The complaint that the US won’t save Europe THIS TIME, AGAIN, says as much about Europe as the US.
Usa never single-handedly saved europe, so I dont know what youre on about usa ‘saving us again’
No we singlehandedly defeated Japan. We weren’t the ONLY ones fighting the Nazis, just the deciding power in that conflict. You’re welcome.
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You also didn’t single-handedly defeat japan, large amount of the army was fighting and losing against the chinese and in the last days of ww2 soviet union joined the war against japan and defeated the best army japan had to offer, so the japanese were going to surrender not just because of american efforts
Damn right, France can sail a fucking nuclear sub into Russia and blow up St Petersburg if they want.
American? With that kind of ideas, I pretty much want the US out of this war
What does your comment mean?
OP is suggesting nuking a civilian target just to do a display of force. That alone is bad enough in my book, but to top it, there is nothing for the western side to win from such a bold move and it would give russia a white card for using nukes…
I did mistake him from being a Californian, but I think CA is Canada? In that case, my bad…
A strategy with a lack of thinking. You blow up st Petersbourg, you get nuclear fire back. If you keep the country occupied with another country, just enough to bleed Russia out, at best you might not even need to intervene militarily, the Russians will take care of their own. At worse you will face a severely diminished foe while you had time to prepare.
Can France keep a sub in reserve for Washington just in case
I hope the EU declares war on Russia, kills Putin, and ends Russia as we know it. Russia’s shadow fleets and sabotage of EU nations should be answered for. Russia may form an open pact with Fascist US within a couple of years, which effectively would kneecap NATO for a while and point a dagger at Europe’s back.
And how could we do that without Eastern Europe, London and Paris being turned into self illuminating parking lots?
Considering that Russia is running low on missiles and other war material, and the shield that is Ukraine, Europe shouldn’t be too bloodied if it fights now. A Russia with US-supplied weaponry, possibly launched from a carrier fleet? That can definitely dig into France and Britain’s flesh.
Besides, the saboteurs that Russia uses is already damaging western nations. They destroy internet cables under surf and over turf, power lines, damage factories, hack systems, ect. Sooner or later, they will make a critical hit.
I would have agreed with you if I thought such a war could have been fought conventionally, but a single nuclear missile slipping through the air defenses would be too high a cost to pay for anything outside NATO.
Russia’s nuclear arsenal is likely unreliable, the Kremlin isn’t known for keeping their gear in good shape. That changes if the US supplies nukes or expertise in one form or another. Putin is weak right now, and should be tackled before he can tag Krasnov into the ring. Either the EU deals with Putin now, or has to worry about a stronger Russia down the line.
There is no good answer, just the ones with a less terrible outcome.
You will get that war. The USA and China will clash and the EU is preparing to take care of Russia when that war starts.
Europeans need to be reflecting on what kind of leadership they want to replace the US now that they’ve started stepping out.
For all the chaos they’re causing, especially in regards to this conflict, it’s not a bad thing that the US is losing geopolitical relevance. I just wish I had any confidence that something better would come from it.
Now is really the time for people to be organizing.
I am personally supporting Ukrainians every week. I am also pro-rearmament in the EU.
That said, said by Germany, this should be read as “we are strongly reliant on heavy industries, but our cars in record low demand, so we really, really, really want to build a lot of weapons for Ukraine (and we will keep some for us, while we decide whether to agree or not on standards and common resource pooling with the rest of the EU)”
EU needs to take several other steps before going head-first into (over-)production of weapons at the levels being discussed here.
Germany sounds every other day like they forget there other 26 countries with them in the Union. And I could say the same about France, but under the military POV France is much more defendable.
Who are they gonna buy the stuff from though 🤨
Eu can and does manufacture it own weapons
Belgium is actually pretty handy at spinning up a weapons factory on short notice.
The European NATO members, combined, already have more soldiers, armored vehicles and aircraft than the USA. Three problems, lack of combat experience, modernization, and naval assets. If the AmeriKans want out, then close every single installation and leave peacefully. We can support Ukraine and should purchase weapons from within the EU or from friendly partners.
We could also have given Ukraine so much they won the war 2 years ago, problem is we also want healthcare, education and decent pensions. I mean it’s good the German army feels we should help Ukraine win the war but let’s not act as if this is a simple feat that doesn’t require a lot of money. Without free American weapons it will be a lot harder to defend ourselves against Putins warmongering.
They are definitely paying us for our depreciated military hardware are they not?
In the Netherlands we literally cannot spend the money we have allocated for our military since there aren’t enough Dutch weapons to buy. 😬
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You didn’t really think we were giving them our latest and greatest military technology did you, we were given the stuff that we were we were going write off or destroy anyways and then charging them for it, America always makes money
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