Summary
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called for an “immediate” summit between the US, EU, and Western allies to discuss Ukraine following a heated White House meeting between Trump and President Zelenskyy.
The February 28 meeting ended without agreement on a minerals deal after escalating into a confrontation over US aid and peace deal conditions.
Meloni warned that Western division “makes us all weaker” as European leaders reaffirmed support for Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas commented that “the free world needs a new leader,” while European allies worry about being excluded from US-Russia negotiations to end the war.
Europe really needs to beef up its defense industries and whatnot. America’s unreliability is becoming an existential threat and it’s clear that Trump and Co will be extremely opportunistic and quick to align with Russia.
The thing is, the US has 100,000 troops and god knows how much military materiel in Europe. America leaves NATO, you think they are just going to pick up all their people and stuff and go because we ask them to politely?
We need a European army yesterday.
when the over extended USD crashes offer up the EU and move on while US sinks into a generational depression from the interest alone.
TLDR positive trade and international allies matter. Isolationism ends with one outcome.
Unfortunately, that next recession, which I believe likely becomes a depression, is going to slam everyone. The EU, USA, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea etc. all have major challenges and weaknesses.
I love reading about people not knowing the EU military industry writing about how it’s somehow weak. Newsflash: it’s not. We don’t talk or write about it 'cause it’s sensitive data. We protect sensitive data. Our armies may not be strong, but our military industry is.
(Looks accusingly at the SA80 / L85 platform… And the Challenger 2)
Your industries can’t even supply artillery and basic equipment to Ukraine, at least nowhere at the level needed to win the war. This is well-known. European leaders have been harping on the need to upgrade capacities.
So, newsflash: sorry, your military industry isn’t up to par yet. The potential is there. Many of the technologies are there. The actual support and capacity to make the most out of that potential is lacking.
This isn’t in any way a controversial opinion. The reality on the ground with constant shortages and European leaders themselves acknowledging the military industry needs more support is well known.
So strong it buys all relevant jets from the us.
So strong.
choice for US jets was basically obligated for many countries because they had to choose a model that is capable of carrying US made nukes stored on territory. French and Brits make fine jets.
Europe’s euro fighter jet is and was a very respectable fighter. With the shift towards stealth with the latest generation, it may be falling behind in key areas but still a good air craft. Developing a jet is a huge, huge undertaking and arguably Europe’s resources could be spent better elsewhere rather than trying to develop an F35/F22 competitor.
Europe does have industrial and military capacity issues. This is well known and European leaders are among the quickest to point it out. No idea why the guy above wants to bury his head in the sand on that.
The biggest issues are arguably fragmentation and tepid political/societal support. Europe has various strengths but work is needed to make the most out of their potential.
Europe is already spending billions of billions in its defense. Europe countries combined already spend more money in war than russia. Every country in the world (russia, china, usa, europe and everyone else) need to cut the military budget and use public money for something more useful.
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-preparedness-the-road-to-universal-slaughter
A stand down on war period would be wonderful. Unfortunately, as long as aggressors are on the board, you have to maintain a defensive posture. Europe’s deficiencies have been made clear but their on-going struggles to supply Ukraine. Russia may spend less, but like China, their lower per capita income in some ways helps them get more out of their money (thankfully, corruption and other issues also nerf Russia).
To maintain a defensive posture you don’t need to spend a cent, raise your elbows and clench your fists. I’m using your wordplay to highlight that you don’t need to spend billions in weapons designed to attack and kill other men to be able to defend yourself.
Yes. You do. That’s unquestionable. Ukraine is barely holding on with overall generous support from the USA and Europe.
The government and invisible lines on the ground are barely holding. In many occasions Ukrainian people managed to defend themself with diy drones duck taped to explosive which proved to be more effective than equipment worth millions dollars.
I can say a few words about that, since I make DIY drones (minus the explosives).
Short summary: you need billions of investment into industry to be able to make cheap drones (but a nice feature: the same factories can supply peaceful activity during peaceful times).
Motors: you cannot DIY them, you need a factory making magnets, ball bearings, rotors and stators, and a final factory for assembly.
Motor controllers: you cannot DIY them beyond a crude prototype for which you naturally need to buy parts. You need a factory making microcontrollers, MOSFETs, PCB boards and a factory to assemble the stuff (robotic pick and place machines, automated soldering ovens, automated testing, etc).
Flight controllers: same as with motor controllers, you need a factory to make them. Open source only comes in at the last step where you configure BetaFlight or ArduPilot as you please.
Flight computers: same as with flight controllers, you need a factory. Fortunately Raspberry Pi, the world’s most-produced microcomputer is made in the UK… from parts largely imported from China. DIY comes in at the last moment, where you choose the operating system and customize (or build) navigation software.
Batteries: making cells needs a factory. DIY comes at the last stage, if the factory doesn’t make ideal batteries, so you buy loose cells and customize.
Fiber optical transceiver: I have not yet seen a garage-built one, though I have seen free space optical transceivers (currently not used in war fighting) that are pretty DIY. But you need components. You can’t cook a silicon photomultiplier in a kitchen, you need a semiconductor factory.
Optical fiber: unfeasible to DIY. Samples can be made in a lab, but to make 20 kilometers of good fiber, you need a well-adjusted factory. You buy up telecom fiber, by shipload if you can, by truckload if you cannot.
Camera: nope, cannot be DIY-ed.
Explosives: can be DIYed at the cost of accidents costing engineers’ lives. So in practise, cannot be DIY-ed.
Airframe: now, the airframe of a drone can be DIY-ed (and this can convey tangible benefits).
(I better not try to write the same about artillery barrels, since artillery is the second most destructive weapon in this war after drones. A DIY artillery barrel is possible, but for pumpkin shooting competitions or at best, short range smoothbore mortars. Heavy industry, high quality steel and a long process with many steps are needed to make a long rifled barrel for high pressure shots.)
Thanks for sharing your knowledge on drones. By diy i wasn’t talking sourcing every material as if you were stranded on a desert island but rather referring to the modular drones already available. They also have been using rc cars with explosive, while making one from scratch would require an industry the idea is that there’s plenty available already and people if needed can successfully defend themself with what they can source.