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Polish PM Donald Tusk warns that "literally any scenario is possible" and that Europe entered the pre-war era when Russia invaded Ukraine (www.dw.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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"War is no longer a concept from the past. It is real, and it started over two years ago. The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible. We haven't seen a situation like this since 1945," Tusk said in an interview with the European media grouping LENA on Friday.

"I know it sounds devastating, especially for the younger generation, but we have to get used to the fact that a new era has begun: the pre-war era. I'm not exaggerating; it's becoming clearer every day."

The former European Council president's comments came soon after the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war upended an era of peace in Europe and pushed nations into ramping up weapons production.

Tusk further said that no one in Europe would feel safe if Kyiv lost the war.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Europe isn't broke, the rich countries are stingy. 150 billion is not much for an economy of 19 trillion - in fact it's not even 1%

Money is nice, it enables Ukraine to keep paying its public servants, but what they really need is modern military hardware, and lots of it. Europe alone has enough if they just delivered it. The USA with their absolutely massive military not helping at the moment is a prolem too, obviously, but we Europeans can no longer rely on them, as they're apparently insane enough to elect someone like Trump, who said many times he doesn't give a shit.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (3 children)

That 19 trillion isn't spendable money at all though. Learn the difference between GDP and a budget.

We're already at high inflation, high interest rates and little to no growth - the situation is extremely precarious in Europe. We could easily end up like Argentina or Turkey.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago

Dude, inflation just got back under control, we're at like 2.6% annual. Growth was never much different than now, the US is back where it was during the 2010s.

The situation might be precarious, but it's more because of asset inflation and the related housing inflation, rather than an economy being strained to the brink. And of course the political problems.

TBH the bigger question is whether the EU will find the willingness to help, not the money.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That 19 trillion isn’t spendable money at all though. Learn the difference between GDP and a budget.

You learn being a nice person. Your arrogance and condescension is uncalled for.

Comparing state expenditures as a percentage of GDP is widespread: contributions of EU member states to the EU budget is defined as a percentage of their GDP, as is the NATO defence spending target.

We’re already at high inflation, high interest rates and little to no growth - the situation is extremely precarious in Europe. We could easily end up like Argentina or Turkey.

Nah, not really.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

All of GDP is spendable if the will is there. It's not at the moment, but let's see how this decade turns out.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

GDP isn't state-owned - we aren't a Communist state (thankfully) - and any attempt to get close to that would destroy the GDP.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

All property is potentially subject to government seizure. Just like we're all military reservists. These things are implicit, and we just hope and pray it won't come to that. But total war is definitely on the cards this decade, at least for some countries.