The EU beat COVID and ditched Russian energy. Now it must learn to live without US security help
The EU beat COVID and ditched Russian energy. Now it must learn to live without US security help
The European Union is getting good at adapting to unprecedented circumstances. Over the last five years, the 27 member countries have pulled together to fund the purchase of tens of millions of vaccines and devised a massive recovery fund to resuscitate economies ravaged by the pandemic.
It did not “beat COVID”. COVID is not over. People are dying and being disabled by it every day.
Beating COVID would have mean actually taking it seriously, maybe eradicting it, atleast having the vast majority of people vaccinate, mask and properly ventilate.
If anything we’re worse than the start of the pandemic now. A third of europe believes in anti-vaccine conspiracies.
COVID will stay here because we can't kill a virus like this without a major world-wide vaccine like we did with Smallpox and Measles.
We still have the bubonic plague. It only impacts 20 people a year, but it's still a disease, centuries after the black death. We still haven hundreds of thousands of people die of Tuberculosis every year, namely in countries that are under Neo-colonalism.
COVID cannot be beaten unless we hyperfocus on it. And we probably never will. Governments both "better" and evil ignored it and started not documenting/publicly showing the infection rates because it looked bad for re-election/government action.
Europe didn't beat COVID, because it's not up to one country or a continent to beat it, it would have to be a major world focus with the WHO.
Anyone saying otherwise is a fool who wants to ignore public health problems because it makes them money or thinks they'll be immune to health problems that doesn't care who you are, just your species.
Beating COVID would have mean actually taking it seriously, maybe eradicting it, atleast having the vast majority of people vaccinate, mask and properly ventilate.
By all of those metrics, save for total eradication of course, Europe largely DID beat covid, or rather the most critical phase of it, unlike the US.
Last I checked, covid infections are below pre-covid flu infections in most of Europe, as is seasonal flu. Again, unlike the US.
If anything we’re worse than the start of the pandemic now
The entire world is, due mainly to the by now worldwide resurgence of fascism.
A third of europe believes in anti-vaccine conspiracies.
See above.
It didn't ditch Russian energy either.
It’s sad. I think the EU is an extremely valuable partner as a whole and to think we just would abandon them. The US is Russia 2.0 and it hurts to see
Unfortunately, its a double edged sword.. The EU looking after its own security also means the US loses influence over the EU. Combine that with the EU being a larger market may mean a shift in gdp ratios as the EU looks within more Instead of buying services from the US.
I hope we are still on good terms once the dust settles.
And additionally, China takes advantage and the EU starts doing more business with them.
China tried to keep itself very neutral in the Ukraine/Russia war (at least on the outside), and it even distanced itself from Putin in the last months. It would be a perfect chance for them to strengthen their economic ties with the EU.
Trump has really freaked up the soft power balance of the world. It was slowly decaying before, but he really pushed the Turbo button.
It's going to be tough, but good changes for the world overall. Enough with the post-ww2 power dynamics. I'm hoping Canada will be pushed to rely less on the U.S
They certainly are being pushed. The polls are showing that support for the fascists there has dropped 25% since they've seen the Trump/Musk presidency to the south. The problem is, they don't have the infrastructure such as huge ports to conduct international trade on the scale of the US.
I wish them luck, because we, their neighbors, seem doomed.
I recently attended a talk by Admiral James Stavridis, who among other thing was the 16th NATO Supreme Allied Commander. He feels the EU will be able to defend itself if the US abandons NATO, etc. Between the manpower the European members has to draw on, their existing defense & manufacturing industries, their shared mistrust of Putin, etc. they have a lot going for them.
Europe ditched Russian energy the same way they ditched colonialism: they didn't, they just do it on the down-low now.
Eh, colonizing is nothing like it was in the past.
Unpopular opinion, but I'd like to bring it back with improvements. The point shouldn't be to enrich the investors, but to improve the world.
Ex: The US could colonize Haiti and invest in making it a livable place.
We can have the oil back once the yankees go home and Ukraine drop NATO.
Russia will drop hostilities like a stone to get that flowing again and we can go back to how things were.
The USA interference in the region over the last 10 year maybe 20, cannot be overstated in terms of creating instability .
We can have the oil back
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Something doesn't add up.
Do grow up.
Appeasing fascists doesn't work.