The resent Munich Security Conference, and SecState Rubio’s speech there have been much in the news as reflected in the headlines listed at RealClearPolitics and RealClearWorld. His tough love message was much like Vance’s earlier one, except with sugar coating.
George Friedman explains the “how” and “why” of it thusly.
The Europe of today isn’t what it was in 1945. Economically, the European Union’s collective gross domestic product is a bit larger than China’s. There is no economic reason that Europe cannot protect itself, especially in light of Russia’s recent setbacks.
Given this situation, the reasons for U.S. defense guarantees are no longer relevant. The European economy is revived, and the Russian threat has dramatically declined.
It’s a matter of whether Europe can do what it must do: create a European military under the control of a European state, the funds for which would come from Europe’s collective wealth.
Europe contains as many as 50 sovereign states, speaking nearly that many languages or dialects, with a long bloody history of warfare amongst them. Whether they are able to do what the current situation demands is unclear to me, to Friedman, and most importantly to the leaders of those many nations and principalities.
These Kingston Trio lyrics, from a song ironically titled "The Merry Minuet," are relevant to the EU's problems with coalescing into a nation.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans. The Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs. South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don't like anybody very much!
