Quote:
Originally Posted by polish_aristocrat
He's right to an extent... Europeans often share some different values than Americans , but their peace and freedom and security are strongly based on the partnership with the US and not enough Europeans want to remember this.
Let's say it like this - all the current little wars the US is engaged in or wants to get engaged, might be pointless and harmful, but if there was ever a real threat to Europe.. or to world peace... (e.g from Russia, China) then "world's" safety would strongely depend on the US again.. the European military is a joke nowadays... in fact there's no European military.
Let me state again, I do not advocate the current US wars or attitude, but if there was ever a REAL threat, then more likely than not, the US would be the needed to ensure Europe's safety indeed.
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That isn't actually true. The biggest danger to Europe was always Europe itself.
Countries in the European Union have a total defense budget of about 300 billion USD a year. China's defense budget is 70 billion USD, and Russia's defense budget is about 50 billion USD. And since the EU has a combined GDP of around 17 trillion USD (compared to 14 trillion for the US, 3 trillion for China, and 1.3 trillion for Russia), it easily has the economic power to survive a prolonged conflict.
No country in the world has the military and economic power to successfully invade Europe.