Make Europe Dangerous Again
it is better to be feared for our strength than despised for our weakness
Sometimes it seems that the USA and Russia are fighting over the world. And with Trump about to get back into power in America, maybe that's what will happen.
(I didn't tell Bing to add a Russian flag. The prompt was: "an orange, and a bear, fighting over a globe of the world, cartoon drawing".)
Public opinion on Putin
YouGov recently published polls asking British people how big a threat Putin and Trump are to peace and security in Europe.
81% thought Putin was a threat:
This is unsurprising given that Putin is currently invading a European country, Ukraine. He has also invaded other European countries, such as Georgia, and he has created breakaway regions in Georgia and Moldova.
Putin has also threatened many European countries including the UK, and has carried out many assassinations and sabotage operations in Europe, including cutting submarine cables.
Public opinion on Trump
For Trump, the number saying he was a threat was smaller at 65%, but that's still 2/3rds of Brits:
While Trump is not currently invading anyone -- he can't right now because he's not in power yet -- he has so far this year threatened to invade Panama, Mexico, Canada and Greenland (which is a part of Denmark with internal autonomy).
America: a rogue state?
Is America a rogue state? Maybe. They have elected Trump twice and Trump is bellicose and erratic, and certainly not a reliable security partner.
No-one knows who America will elect in 2028 or 2032 (quite likely someone who no-one has heard of right now), but Europe cannot rely on that person being friendly towards us.
The underlying problem
Putin is invading a European country right now, and Trump is threatening to.
Why? Because they aren't scared of us. If they were scared of us they wouldn't behave as they do. But we Europeans are a great people, the people who made the modern world and genocided entire continents. People should be scared of pissing us off.
What is the solution?
To make people fear us we need to be militarily strong and politically united.
On the second point we need a European Military Alliance able to deal not just with direct military invasions, but with acts of aggression less than war -- for example when Putin cuts cables, assassinates people or starts fires.
We in Europe are not militarily strong enough that people are scared of us. If we were, Putin would not have invaded Ukraine.
Looking at various European parties, it seems many have realised that Europe needs to be stronger...
Volt Europa
The pan-European Volt Europa Party uses the slogan "Make Europeans Dangerous Again" to call for greater military spending and co-operation. Here's a banner they used in Prague recently:
Personally I prefer the slogan "Make Europe Dangerous Again".
Alternative für Deutschland
Regarding AfD, some people in that party are pro-Putin.
However, some AfD politicians, such as Björn Höcke, want to create a European Defense Community, and wants either Germany or Europe (presumably through the vehicle of this European Defense Community) to have nuclear weapons. While they are against American influence in Europe, they are also against Russian influence in Europe too.
Since "American influence in Europe" often boils down to them telling us what to do, I agree with him that there should be less American influence on Europe.
What Britain should do
Britain made the mistake of leaving the EU in 2020, which has reduced our influence in Europe greatly.
What Britain needs to do now is either rejoin the EU or become closer to them in economic terms (the increased trade will benefit our economy, by undoing some of the damage Brexit has caused).
In military affairs, Britain should propose a European Military Alliance, able to do more than either NATO or the EU can. One way it will do this is by not requiring unanimity for decisions to be made. The requirement for unanimity is a problem because Hungary, run by Putin's ally Victor Orban, is a member of both NATO and the EU and can therefore block measures by both organisations.
The EMA should also have provisions on common military procurement and other areas which members can sign up to if they wish.
Finally Britain should help Ukraine more. One way would be to base a few squadrons of Typhoons and F-35s there; Britain has spent as lot of money on those planes and should get value for money. Other European countries should also help Ukraine with air assets.
Another way would be for Britain to partner up with Ukrainian companies making drones and robotic ground/sea vehicles, manufacture them together, and jointly develop AI capabilities for them. In the long ruin this will be of major importance.
Starmer will very likely not do any of these things.
Footnote
The subheading "it is better to be feared for our strength than despised for our weakness" is an allusion to Machiavelli, who said (words to the effect of) "it is better to be feared than loved, but one must at all costs avoid being hated", i.e. the ideal scenario is for a ruler to inspire both respect and a degree of fear, without crossing the line into being actively disliked.