Subject: Re: war with Denmark or Panama??
No, but Europe's got a pretty solid industrial base.

Do they. What about their energy infrastructure?

Again, the notion that the defense of Europe is proceeding almost entirely on the U.S.' dime is just flat out wrong.

The Europeans are entirely dependent on the US Navy to guard trade routes and protect the sea lanes. Fact. Not a particularly disputable one.

Are they even capable of handling an extended conflict? Absolutely not. Witness France:

https://warontherocks.com/2023...

To their credit, their new Chief of Staff is thinking about this:
On Feb. 13, the chief of staff of the French army, Gen. Pierre Schill, presented to a group of journalists his new vision for the French army’s path forward. Interestingly, Schill’s response to the quality versus mass dilemma is to stay the course, largely by investing in the army’s ability to do better what it was already designed to do, in other words work to enhance its quality.

...but his plan is:
https://www.lemonde.fr/interna...

The army learns the lessons of the war in Ukraine
The chief of staff of the army announced, on Monday, the establishment of a new organization in which the "melee" regiments (tanks, infantry) will be reduced, in favor, in particular, of those specialized in cyber and drones.

Basically they're going to try to do more with less. The armies of Europe are primarily expeditionary forces; they can't fight on a sustained basis.


Again, no one disputes that European military power isn't the size of that of the U.S. No one's is.

Excellent, as no one has made that argument.

Just that your argument that European military expenditures are tiny is flat-out wrong.

In recent years they've improved. They're still not where they should be.

In late January, Macron announced his government’s intention to significantly increase France’s defense budget. In his speech, he underlined the need to boost France’s stocks and re-invest in the military’s supporting forces, what often is referred to as the “tail,” which historically has been greatly reduced to retain as much of the “tooth” as possible. After Macron’s speech, Goya complained that simply rebuilding the military would soak up all the new money, leaving none left to grow the force. The new proposed Military Programming Law, released this April, confirms his view. Though it calls for spending €413 billion ($465.15 billion) over the next five years, the new law in fact does not call for growing the force, although it does mandate significant boosts to France’s drone fleet and air defense capabilities, along with more spending on intelligence, counter-landmine capabilities, and cyber.