There will be plenty of blame to go around as Ukraine disappears under Vladimir Putin’s boots, but while American fecklessness is part of the problem, Europe’s unwillingness to get serious about its own defense is disgraceful. Germany alone, with the fourth-largest economy on earth and one that dwarfs Russia’s, should be powerful enough to make invasions such as this one unthinkable. Yet the entire EU, without the benefit of oceans to protect it from potentially hostile forces, spends only $225 billion a year on defense, one-third of what the U.S. spends.
Here is the head of the German army saying the country’s military is completely unprepared. Writes Alfons Mais in a LinkedIn post:
The Bundeswehr, the army that I am privileged to lead, is more or less empty handed. The policy options we can offer in support of the alliance are extremely limited. We all saw it coming and we were not able to get through with our arguments, to draw the conclusions from the Crimean annexation and implement them.
It’s long past time for Europe to stop relying on the U.S. to provide the bulk of its security. NATO is meant to be an overwhelming alliance of major nations, not a single power with a few sheepish supporters.