Many European leaders have long pushed for a bigger military role. One that is independent of the US-led NATO alliance. The need for this increased military capability was recently made clear, during the chaotic evacuations from Kabul airport. European nations had to rely almost entirely on the United States. European Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen says the bloc needs the political will to stand on its own. She says the EU should be able to deploy a military force without relying on the US or NATO. But what is holding it back from achieving this goal?
Presenter: Nastasya Tay
Guests: Theresa Fallon - Director of Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies.
David DesRoches - Associate Professor at National Defense University.
Nicholas Whyte - International Affairs Strategist.
Europeans especially the western Europe has always been historically cursed with greed and that's why they aren't even willing to pay for their own security. Their greed and urge for personal gains was one of the top reasons why their notorious crusades campaigns failed to gain popularity within their own population. They don't know the meaning of sacrifice and help the others selflessly for a greater divine cause.
Only Turkey as of now is acting as a sturdy lid of the pressure cooker of middle east and Asia safeguarding them from the consequences of the mess the same EU created in those areas.
Their forces main goal in defensive posture has always been to at least hold some parts of EU when the US would come to aid them against massive Russian military forces. Recently they put up an exercise to mobilize their combined forces to the Eastern Europe and do live firing exercises there but they failed miserably to mobilize and coordinate the operation effectively.
Those EU countries have always been reducing the numbers of crucial assets like number of tanks and military personnel and budget cuts. And in turn blackmailing US to spend for their defense and deploy massive amounts of US military in EU for their defense instead.
Japan has timely recognized the need to develop its own capable military forces as they are sensing the fact that US might not be there to help them out decisively in the future conflicts. What if US collapses or shrinks to its own borders like what European colonial powers did post WW2! EU would be at the mercy of its neighboring countries or would collapse too. You might be able to buy massive amounts of weapons by throwing money all around the globe but you can't train pilots, military officers, battle hardened military overnight. US military might is relatively on the decline and they are pulling out of the role of so called global "policeman" or more accurately described as global thug.
History tells us that none of the rich men survived without backing up their wealth and riches by a massive firepower or a person with massive firepower willing to protect them. The current situation of Arabs is a prime example. All the Arab nations are held hostage by some militarily powerful countries for their national security. Heck even they prefer to sit in the lap of their nemesis, the most cunning enemy Israel in order to just feel fake sense of security. Those are the same Arabs who once slain both the super powers of their time simultaneously, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Persians. Now with all possible wealth in their pockets, they are openly taunted by the US President that those Rich Arab Governments won't hold for more than a month if the US plugs out their support.
On the other hand poor begging country like Pakistan can still somewhat push global powers to serve its agenda just due to the military capability it holds. So they are forced to bail out and feed that poor but powerful warrior in order to keep it from getting rogue.
It clearly explains that a powerful muscle with less than half filled belly is a lot more better than overfed chubby dude with no muscles at all.