“War is no longer a concept from the past. It is real, and it started over two years ago. The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible. We haven’t seen a situation like this since 1945,” Tusk said in an interview with the European media grouping LENA on Friday.
“I know it sounds devastating, especially for the younger generation, but we have to get used to the fact that a new era has begun: the pre-war era. I’m not exaggerating; it’s becoming clearer every day.”
The former European Council president’s comments came soon after the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war upended an era of peace in Europe and pushed nations into ramping up weapons production.
Tusk further said that no one in Europe would feel safe if Kyiv lost the war.
The comparison to the pre-war stage of ww2 is an obvious one to make. The aggressor is invading and Europe is acting like they’re not at war, again.
The aggressor is invading and Europe is acting like they’re not at war, again.
The Phoney War wasn’t so much countries pretending that they weren’t at war as it was countries preparing for war. The Axis had started arming themselves sooner; the Allies wanted to have enough time to build up.
so it’s worse now?
Arguably, yes, because it seems like everyone analogous to the Allies this time around can’t agree on anything and are simultaneously having to deal with a lot of hostile propaganda/manipulation, up to and including quisling politicians in our governments (sometimes entire governments, really) and hostile foreign service agents.
TL;DR: we’ve learned nothing
If only there were some way we could make sure Ukraine is able to make the invaders fuck off.
Oh well. Best continue delivering tiny amounts of outdated hardware with great delay.
Europe has donated around ~$150 billion USD (including from member states). That’s almost an entire year’s EU budget, over 20x the ESA’s annual budget (wtf), and over 20x the EU’s 6-year contribution to ITER (double wtf).
The money comes from somewhere and Europe is broke.
The US needs to stop shirking their duty, and send the military in. They are making an absolute fortune off LNG and weapons exports, they should take the responsibility to help.
EDIT: Also rich for Poland to complain about this when they are the biggest leech of EU funds in the Union. It’s absurd that there are only ~9 net contributors to begin with.
Europe isn’t broke, the rich countries are stingy. 150 billion is not much for an economy of 19 trillion - in fact it’s not even 1%
Money is nice, it enables Ukraine to keep paying its public servants, but what they really need is modern military hardware, and lots of it. Europe alone has enough if they just delivered it. The USA with their absolutely massive military not helping at the moment is a prolem too, obviously, but we Europeans can no longer rely on them, as they’re apparently insane enough to elect someone like Trump, who said many times he doesn’t give a shit.
That 19 trillion isn’t spendable money at all though. Learn the difference between GDP and a budget.
We’re already at high inflation, high interest rates and little to no growth - the situation is extremely precarious in Europe. We could easily end up like Argentina or Turkey.
That 19 trillion isn’t spendable money at all though. Learn the difference between GDP and a budget.
You learn being a nice person. Your arrogance and condescension is uncalled for.
Comparing state expenditures as a percentage of GDP is widespread: contributions of EU member states to the EU budget is defined as a percentage of their GDP, as is the NATO defence spending target.
We’re already at high inflation, high interest rates and little to no growth - the situation is extremely precarious in Europe. We could easily end up like Argentina or Turkey.
Nah, not really.
