[joduplessis]

I wish Europe would just push back. More than what they are currently. There is so much potential there, but somehow the EU all look at the US as some form of idealogical father figure. Excuse the hyperbolic-talk.

[palata]

I don't think it is true. It's like saying "I wish those kids didn't let the bigger one bully them". The reason the bully is bullying is because he is in a position to do it.

The EU is being careful because the US are more powerful.

[Trasmatta]

Trump has repeatedly backed off when he's challenged. It's happened time and time again. It's the reason TACO is a thing. The best strategy against him is to be relentless about pushing back, even if on paper the US is more powerful.

[MrDresden]

The EU is the more reasonable actor here. Making a reactionary move, even one that would feel good, wouldn't be the best move.

The USA is in the process of systematically demolishing it's soft power around the world.

The EU is like a super tanker that takes a long time turning and, make no mistake, it is turning away from the USA.

The push back will be felt for years and decades.

[blibble]

they can't back down on this one

if the moron continues, we will go to the brink

[bootsmann]

The problem is NATO, a lot of the EU is reluctant to push back because at the end of the day the US guarantees that Russia cannot pursue the type of landgrab it is currently trying to do in Ukraine against other states. The risk that the US runs into when trying to take Greenland is that this argument loses weight instantly, so the expectation is that the EU will be much more willing to use its anti coercion tools if Trump tries to make it a reality.

[hermanzegerman]

Russia already fails in Ukraine where they are fighting with our old junk, and the other EU States are kicking their defense industry in full gear. What makes you think they could win a full scale war against the EU

[jensgk]

".. because at the end of the day the US guarantees that Russia cannot pursue the type of landgrab it is currently trying to do in Ukraine against other states"

I am sorry to say that we (Europeans) increasingly do not believe that the US would help us.

[lyu07282]

It's like when every liberal scoffs at leftists opposing US imperialism, nothing about the power balance has changed. Europe was always a vassal of the empire. This is the liberal international order, this is what that means, not what they tell you it means, but what it actually means.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_international_order

That's why they can kidnap Maduro, have the BBC censor the word "kidnapped" in their reporting on it. Have every European politician applaud it, point to Maduros case against him at the ICC and have Netanyahu fly over France. You can't do anything about Greenland, the same way you can't do anything when he comes for Norways state-owned extraction industry next. Liberals can scream hypocrisy tears all they want, this is the world they built. The empire is coming home.

[tim333]

A vassal of who's empire?

[DustinEchoes]

Leftists can go eat shit. They spent over a year convincing people not to vote for Kamala. Their preferred candidate won!

[bpodgursky]

The EU has a huge strategic problem because they let their own defenses and industry rot for decades and can't functionally stand alone against Russia, US pressure, and Chinese economic infiltration / industrial replacement at the same time. At least, not without great sacrifices the population isn't willing to make, like pension reform.

So they are playing gentle with the US because it's the least bad choice right now.

[tpm]

> can't functionally stand alone against Russia, US pressure, and Chinese economic infiltration / industrial replacement at the same time.

No country in the world can do that. That's not a consequence of 'they let their own defenses and industry rot for decades'.

[mcphage]

> The EU has a huge strategic problem because they let their own defenses and industry rot for decades

They also have a long history of being able to ramp it up quickly if necessary.

[pessimizer]

The fact is that there is no potential there. Europe has no leverage over the US. It is not holding back anything, it has nothing.

Somehow when the US went to war with Russia, it ended up completing the conquest of Europe. Europe used to just be stagnant. Now it is stagnant and isolated from everywhere except the US, and the US treats it accordingly.

[saubeidl]

Europe has, in no particular order:

- ASML

- Nukes

- Large proportion of US bonds

- One of the wealthiest and most profitable markets in the world

- The world's largest trade network - currently aggressively expanding into LatAm with the Mercosur deal despite Trump's Monroe 2.0 ambitions.

Just a few off the the top of my head. There's plenty leverage there.