Can the EU and NATO step into the shoes of the US to counter Russia?

A: Kompf. That proposition is a fantasy, its magic thinking at its finest at not only an economic level, but its also a military impossibility as well. Truth is NATO thru fiscal neglect has been allowed to decay into paper tiger since 1991 – in my considered opinion, it no longer has teeth to do what it was supposed to do during the cold war. I am not saying the Europeans don’t have a credible defense force, but what they lack is systematic industrial capacity at every level of arms production and one major reason for this is because every country in Europe has a policy of developing their own indigenous weapons system. I am not saying either that what the Europeans manufacture is rubbish, it isn’t. The Rafale is an excellent multirole fighter, so is the Typhoon and the same for the Saab Gripen and the rest of their complimentary accoutrements like air defense, pre-emptive strike capabilities like the Taurus and Storm Shadow are also world class…..but the constraint or bottleneck is in manufacturing capacity – the Europeans cannot match the Russians and let me be frank, they can’t match the Chinese either and this is important because the Chinese are covertly assisting the Russians.

Q: But the European Union has recently issued a communique backing Zelensky and this has been backed up by significant monetary assurances….don’t you think this is can extend a.life line to the Ukrainians to continue defending their country?

A: Understand this Kompf. Europe is well and truly in the economic doldrums. Every European country can be summed up in these prosaic terms – they are all without a single exception facing a generational reversal of economic fortunes. This means there is negative growth across the board marked by declining industrial and service output, rising unemployment, and a heavy reliance on exports, particularly to the US and China. Factors such as high energy prices, unfavorable demographics, and inflationary pressures will mean Europe will stay down for the count for a very very long time. Germany once the industrial star performer is kaput today. The UK is riven with a variety of intractable problems concerning the NHS to education and virtually every public service is anorexic and starved of funding, its conceivable that in 2027, the UK may even need an economic lifeline from.the IMF!….so all these efforts to extend Ukraine an economic lifeline are not economically nor are they politically sustainable and even if its possible for European administrators to do all the these magical things. Their electorate will not accept it, all this would do is accelerate the electoral sentiment to the right….Kompf, all I see here is a dead European man walking and talking big. Because at the end of the day and this is the kicker – no European country will commit boots to the frontline of Ukraine. If France and Britian can do this, then we might well have a different conversation, but as it is, its all a smoke and mirrors bluff.

Q: What does Europe need to do, to get out from this hubris?

A: They need find their own voice instead of playing second fiddle to the US. In a sense this attitude of towing the US line has vassalised Europe to such an extent that it is not wholly and completely dependant on the US as both a military and economic guarantor.

Q: Do you think that’s possible?

A: I need to think abt that Question Kompf, by the way I have been meaning to ask you this for an awfully long time – do you happen to have a family recipe for making a souffle?