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[–] 60 points 9 months ago (1 child)

Let me put this in my conservative translator and see what we get...set the dial to projection and voila!

"Europe is making bold decisions across the board from Defense to court cases fining American tech giants. I'm scared and my diaper needs changing."

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  • [–] 35 points 9 months ago* (18 children)

    Trump is a degenerative piece of shit, but in this regard he is correct: Europe is slow and cowardly even in a situation when Europe itself is in danger. But Trump doesn't offer any solution, so... ok?

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  • [–] 49 points 9 months ago (13 children)

    Slow and rational is quite nice in this geopolical chaos... i'd rather have a slow EU than a "move fast and break things" system like the US

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  • [–] 9 points 9 months ago* (7 children)

    The issue with slow and rational is the slow part. Usually that is no issue, but sometimes you have to act fast in order to not be caught with your pants down.

    Our dependence on the US and the Russian threat are such a situation where we have to be able to act fast and decisively.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    You are absolutely right, but when it came to COVID, the EU reacted very rapidly, in line with the USA or UK. So it's a choice, not a structural problem. They just don't think a rapid response is opportune.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago* (1 child)

    I may be misremembering how the COVID response went, but I remember the EU not doing a whole lot in the early days of the pandemic. It was mostly national governments locking down and taking precautions within their own borders.

    Don't get me wrong, I like the EU. But it is times like these when I wished it was a little faster to respond to existential threats.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    No, no, you remember the same that I do. But the early response to COVID would have been a national responsibility anyway, I believe.

    What the EU did that was swift and decisive was to fork out huge amounts of cash to soften the financial blow, based on loans that the EU took on. It was the very first time the EU and ECB took on large debt, and instead of going through the infinitely slow process that financial decisions usually take, it was done quickly and without much thinking (so much so that nobody knew who and when was going to repay those loans).

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    It takes time for 27 countries to form consensus.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Obviously. But when time is of the essence, that can be a weakness

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    I agree. There have been proposals for reforming the requirement of uninamity but this requires.... uninamity.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    I do believe that the requirement to reach unanimity is part of the reason why the EU is so good for it citizens. It has to consider the concerns of all member states before policy can be passed, and thus it is more difficult to pass anything that is particularly bad for any member state. I would prefer that not to go away.

    Example being Chat Control. The EU under the Danish presidency is really trying to push that one through, and there is only a handful of countries that are actively opposing it. Unanimity helps keep legislation like that at bay.

    Maybe a better solution would be to only remove unanimity for certain types of policy. I would imagine something like foreign policy, fiscal policy and immigration policy. Unanimity on internal affairs should definitely remain in my opinion.

    Edit: Perhaps also allow the EU to either do military spending or maintain an army, but that might be a bridge too far..
    Hypothetically would achieve the same with a NATO-style alliance between the European states (that excludes the US)

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  • [+] -6 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Yes, just ask Putin to wait until you are ready. No need to hurry.

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  • [–] 13 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    He can't conquer the Ukraine for 3 years now. It seems we don't even need to ask. Good job, bot.

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  • [+] -6 points 9 months ago

    So you expect that Ukraine would be able to defend you forever? Just throw a few planes there and a dozen tankettes from time to time? Ok, keep your pace. Who cares about those dying Ukrainians? And Putin also won't be in Warsaw tomorrow. And most probably not even day after that. All is well.

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  • [–] 17 points 9 months ago* (2 children)

    Europe is slow and cowardly even in a situation when Europe itself is in danger

    It's slow because we are 27 sovereign nations. It's by design. I wouldn't say that we are acting cowardly. We do not act "American" since we are Europeans. We do not need to be the loudest on the table. We have economic interests and until now the EU could definitely be worse.

    If Don Fanta openly "slams" European Leaders for being weak, what does this tell you? That this one time he tells the truth or that he wishes it was true? I bet on the later.

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    It just Shows that Trump does Not understand how democracies work at all. Decisions are not made by a Government and laws are not enacted by a "strong" Leader, but by representatives in a sitting parliament. what he wants is for the Western world to act more Like him, in the way of dictatorships. Because those he can rule with Power alone, be it economical or militaristic.

    and with our Double democracy (one at national, the 2nd at european Level) he cant do that easily, because at the european Level we Pack a Punch of soft Power on the international Stage. which makes it harder for him to devide us and influence our actions. Any smaller, less powerful Nation otherwise would be a direct target of US Influence, See Venezuela or in the History all the us-powered coup'de'etat in south america

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  • [–] 31 points 9 months ago

    aw man, the demented is talking about himself again :/

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  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago

    Again, every accusation is a confession.

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  • [–] 14 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Europe ‘doesn’t know what to do

    ...says the one who knows exactly what to do.

    Every day.

    But it is ... just a bit ... completely different every day.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    I said it months ago: if we don’t have a unified army to support our power, we won’t be able to match Latin America’s economic and political influence. The window of opportunity is closing, and it’s closing fast

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago