The image is the mythological Rape of Europe by Rubens at the Museo del Prado.
EUROPE MUST GROW A PAIR
Europe has gotten accustomed with the role of damsel in distress waiting for the US, the Cavalry to go and save them from the bad guys.
This has been true for the past 110 years.
Europe is way more civilized and way more mature than the new lands across the pond, but age does not correlate with wise decisions.
THE MYTH OF AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM
America has been involved in most of the wars in the 20th century and 21st century together with allies. World War I and World War II are the most remembered, but the US has fought in the Korean War of 1950, the Viet Nam war, the Gulf War, Afghanistan War, Iraq War, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, War against ISIS and some minor ones.
America has not sent troops, but have helped Israel to defend itself in the 1948, 1967, 1973, Camp david accord, the war in Lebanon in1982, The Oslo accord in 1993, the 2000 Intifada, the 2006 Lebanon war, the 2020 Abraham accords, the current war against Hamas and Hezbollah after the October 7th Massacre.
America has also maintained NATO, the alliance that shielded Western Europe from a Soviet invasion as well as created Chrome Dome, the actual deterrence against Soviet threats and finally the NORAD, the alliance with Canada that guaranteed any Soviet attack would be retributed.
As of late, a new defense treaty with the UK, Australia and the USA – AUKUS – has been signed to increase the defense of the Pacific Ocean against the military claims from Communist China.
EQUAL PARTNERS IN WAR MYTH
The partners like to think they are in equal stature in democratic, political, economical and military matters. The fact is that beyond political, there is no equivalence between the allies.
Even in Democratic terms, most governments in Europe are ruling winning about 30% of the votes, meaning that 70% does not support their policies and only shadowy negotiations in dark cabinets form coalitions to govern these countries. This contrast with the landslide victory in electoral college votes and popular vote in America.
While Great Britain retain their allied of first hour status, it can’t contribute in military, economical or political or even democratic power, now that Keir Starmer a devout socialist is the prime minister. The UK has 151 combat jets. A single American carrier has 80, 100% combat ready aircrafts. In the numbers cited below, not all attack jets are combat ready, most are 50% combat ready.
Germany has neglected the investments in defense. Today the whole Germany has only 139 attack jets. Germany can’t defend itself because Angela Merkel – born in communist East Germany – believed in an alliance with Russia (a deja vu of Molotov – Ribbentropp pact) where she paid hard currency for natural gas, a strategic error that dramatically hurts the economy.
France is cracked democratically and politically in the middle. François Macron is a weak prime minister. He clings to power by a hodge-podge coalition of multiple parties of the left, while the Le Pen, the opposition has 33% of the vote alone. The New Popular front, a populist party, have 28% and Macron’s party has 20%.
The French air force has 210 attack jets.
Sweden a much smaller country have some 160 fighter jets. Remember that Sweden just joined NATO and used to keep their own defense forces completely separated from NATO.
The rest of the European Community doesn’t fare any better. Most of NATO signatories and other European Countries neglected their defense against enemies counting on Uncle Sam to come to their rescue.
All the NATO participants and European countries depend on the United States to support them militarily. The European nations did not have means to curb the Serbian war crimes, could not take care of the war in Libya or Syria by themselves.
FREE AMERICA BASHING IS OVER
The partners are not equal when they do not contribute for the alliance in equal terms. There are countries that are reliable, like the United Kingdom, which has been autonomous but provided firm cooperation with the American aims in conflicts. The alliance across Pond has been shakend lately. Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the UK, has betrayed the cooperation by trying to surrender the military base in Diego Garcia, by giving authonomy to the Chagos Islands, and thus making it autonomous and possibly evicting the most important air base in the Indian Ocean. The fear is that this base is thus given to another country, most likely China, for it sits right on the Belt and Road initiative.
A note for Portugal that has been a very reliable partner with the US, granting overflight rights and the use of the Lajes airfield and the creation of the Lajes airbase an strategic asset for dominance in the middle Atlantic.
Other partners like Germany, Italy, Spain, France have denied overflight rights, forcing the American Air force to fly further and more difficult and risky routes to accomplish missions against common foes, as was the case of the bombing of Libya and Bagdad.
With partners like these, one does not need enemies.
RESUMING SELF DEFENSE
The current administration of Trump (47), as well as the previous one(45), demands only one thing from the military partners: do your bit. Spend 2% of your GDP in defense. This includes troops, training, munitions, buildings, military schools and equipment.
Many people think that the USA demands all equipment and munitions to be manufactured in the US. This is false. Since inception of NATO, the partners have had opportunities to manufacture their own rifles, aircraft, howitzers, missiles and stuff. All these have been adopted by NATO. Tanks, missiles, radar stations, transportation trucks can be manufactured in Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom with native technology or with alliances within NATO.
It is time to understand that Russia has not lost the war against Ukraine and that it still want to recover Poland, the Baltic states – Estonia, Lituania, Latvia – and the rest of Eastern Europe it lost when the Soviet Union collapsed. This may even include East Germany.