I wonder what makes EU so wealthy to just buy stuff everywhere - maybe it's the export of high-end technologies inaccessible to US and China?

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cvwright 40 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Having someone else pay for your national defense for 80 years sure doesn’t hurt.

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WarmWash 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The EU is no way share or form in a good economic position right now. That's why euro leaders have been kowtowing to Trump despite him being a deranged lunatic.

Delete all American software, American defense, American energy, and Chinese hardware from the EU tomorrow. That's the deep-seated unease that keeps EU leaders up at night. Europe needs to be doing 3-4% GDP growth annually and have a globally competitive top to bottom tech an defense industry, and it needs that years ago.

The problem is that the EU needs to become more like the US to do this, and for people who grew up under the protective overhang of the soviet collapse, this is mostly unthinkable. Just like the US not bankrolling half of Ukraine's defense would be unthinkable...

	▲	MayeulC an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Just like the US not bankrolling half of Ukraine's defense would be unthinkable... This is outdated. Look at page 4 of this report for instance: https://www.kielinstitut.de/publications/europe-steps-up-ukr... Their data is not perfect as they rely on public sources, and some governments are more transparent than others, but the reality is that US funding all but vanished in 2025. Back to the topic, there is also a pattern of promising European startups being bought by wealthy USA incumbent companies. This is also happening to established compagnies: see ARM, Alstom Power, etc. As Europe de-couples from the USA in the current context, I suspect (and hope) that such acquisitions will come under more regulatory scrutiny.
	▲	bojan 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		The EU and the UK took over aiding Ukraine almost completely in 2025 [1]. So not as unthinkable as you'd think. > That's why euro leaders have been kowtowing to Trump despite him being a deranged lunatic. Less to do with economy, more with security. Europe still needs a credible deterrent against Russia, and the US is still its best bet. [1] https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fl...

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an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

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