Harsh Reality is Sinking into Europe

Europe has been forced to face the reality, which was true since the end of World War II. All these decades, Europe chose to ignore that reality – militarily, Europe is nothing without American support. Certainly nowhere enough to take on Russia (or the USSR earlier).

 

The ramming home of this reality couldn’t have come at a worse time for Europe. As if the military side of things wasn’t bad enough news, as Tomas Pueyo writes:

“China is decimating European industries, and nowhere is this truer than in cars… China is using its dominance in batteries to leapfrog internal combustion engine (ICE) cars and become the #1 exporter of electric cars in the world.”

 

And to top all that already terrible situation:

“This whole geopolitical nightmare is happening as Europeans grow old.”

How does an ageing population tie into all this? Because a welfare state (like Europe) with old people means a larger and larger chunk of government income (tax etc) is spent on pensions and healthcare costs.

 

Not exactly the scenario from which one can expect a major EU/European military budget to arm and protect itself can arise. And that is assuming everyone in Europe wants to build a European army. Spain and Italy don’t see any Russian threat extending to them; and it is hard to imagine France liking the idea of an armed Germany because of the threat of a so-far-from-France country like Russia.

 

On the economic front, EU regulations are over-the-top, esp. on areas of the future (Internet, smartphone apps, AI, you name it). On electric tech, China is the global leader and it is hard to see how Europe can catch up. There is no European company of consequence in any of those areas, and expecting a turnaround suddenly is, well, just being very optimistic. European rules on firing, high taxes (for a welfare state), high unemployment benefits, and the desire to keep reducing working hours – all of that makes it hard to compete against Asian countries that are hungry and willing to do whatever it takes.

 

As Trump (in)famously told Zelenskyy:

“You (Europe) don’t have the cards right now.”

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