Europe believes that Russia is doing all sorts of bad things and there's also the belief that Moscow plans to invade the EU .

Isn't the logical action for EU to launch massive pre-emptive strikes on this big bad country that hates the western way of life ?

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eptcyka 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I don’t believe the leadership sees Russia as an existential threat in Brussels. Baltics and Poland see it differently.

A pre-emptive strike would be expensive and immediately retcon into making Putin be the good guy - he’s long said NATO is the aggressor. Best to make invading EU to be too expensive to be worth it.

I think the bigger risk currently that Europe faces is the low and mid level corruption where Russian agents extend their tendrils into government structures in EU.

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TheOtherHobbes 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This has already happened. Just as in the US, all of the far-right "movements" in the EU are Russian fronts.

The two biggest targets are the UK and France, because both have an independent nuclear deterrent. If those are captured by puppets, expect nuclear explosions over European capitals.

This is not hyperbole. Russian government insiders have made it absolutely, unambiguously clear that Europe must be "crushed."

As a direct quote.

The real tragedy is oligarch complicity. Oligarchs and aristocrats in the US, UK, and EU have decided they have more in common with their Russian counterparts than with the native populations of their respective countries.

	▲	gnerd00 6 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		How many armies in the world, have ever had a person in uniform demand that "the other army must be crushed" ? ok, is there any army that did not say that, to each other, or to an audience? Get a grip on the invective and do not blabber!
	▲	actionfromafar an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Aristocrats pretty much always believed that.

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lugu 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> making Putin be the good guy

Come on. Who cares what he pretend?

> Best to make invading EU to be too expensive to be worth it.

How do you propose to estimate how much it is worth doing it?

IMO, it is best is to make the kremlin government collapse by all mean necessary. Including sabotage, assassination, propaganda, confiscation, corruption/trahison. And preemptive strike if needs to be.

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TulliusCicero 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Isn't the logical action for EU to launch massive pre-emptive strikes

To be clear, strikes wouldn't be "pre-emptive", Russia is already in a war, and it's entirely allowed for any nation to join the side of Ukraine. None of the rules of war prevent helping a friendly country by joining the fight.

	▲	belter 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		"Europe thinks the unthinkable: Retaliating against Russia" - https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-thinks-the-unthinkabl...

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kspacewalk2 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not about "hating the western way of life" or any such silliness. They can hate whatever they want within their internationally recognized borders.

War is best prevented by robust deterrents. When it comes to belligerent fascist regimes who want to see how far you can be pushed, not responding to provocations and aggression forcefully makes larger-scale war more likely in the future.

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TulliusCicero 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The logical thing to do is respond proportionally: if the ships are deliberately damaging property, seize the ships, and imprison the offenders.

	▲	lovich an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Responding proportionally means you are always the one on the defensive and your opponent gets to decide the course of the conflict. There should be a tit for tat response but the tit needs to be much larger than the tat to create the incentive for no longer attacking

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luke5441 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

We have functional democracies here. You'd have to convince the population this is the right course of action and then the politicians will do it.

Good luck with that, though.

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ForHackernews 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

No, pre-emptively starting another war is not a good idea. But yes, the West should work hard to make sure their enemy loses the war it has already started.

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belter 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Isn't the logical action for EU to launch massive pre-emptive strikes on this big bad country that hates the western way of life ?

Depending on the days, the priority changes, between Russia or attacking the US first, maybe with the help from Canada :-))

You have to deal with one threat at a time, and it seems the fight against chlorinated chicken will take priority for now... :-)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/12/17/trump-demands...