Yes, but since the offending country 1: has nuclear weapons and B- keeps saying "whoopsie didn't mean to pinky promise" everyone just throws up their hands and says "well they claim it was an accident so just bump the sanctions 2% and call it a day" rather than the literal acts of war that they would be in any other context.
It's like watching what's happened in the US happen on a global scale.
We all know things are being smashed on purpose with the intention of making life difficult for other people, yet nobody is doing a goddamn thing to stop it.
And just like in the US, I'm sure there are plenty who would absolutely love to row out and try to stop it themselves but a large ship is just gonna steamroll a small one. I would love to row out and start some shit with the ships cutting cables. But by myself, I'm getting crushed without a second thought, and tons of people will watch on and go "well what did they expect all by themselves they should have gone out in force as a group if they wanted to really put a stop to it. Now I gotta go post a Facebook update saying I stand in solidarity with the cable"
I'll let the readers sort out this metaphor.
The original comment was removed but I'm guessing the poster was trying to say the US is some scheming puppeteer of foreign countries to make this happen?
LMAO I could have believed that around 2005.
You could have even swung that convincingly in 2010.
This administration wouldn't know what a puppet IS without the hand shoved up their asses drawing some pictures for them. They are the puppets. Half of them have an education in name only, their diplomas and degrees were paid for by status or money. Their positions secured through ass kissing and the ability to say "yes master whatever you wish"
You are spot on with your assessment of the military industrial complex. In my youth I enlisted, and it's an entirely different beast from the inside. Simultaneously more and less coordinated than you thought, just in different areas. Day-to-day sure things might get fucked up, a clerical error makes comical goofs and endless maintenance delays... But once "war were declared" then I have never seen anything that moves in coordination more smoothly except literal machines.
Even with a group of idiots at the wheel, they aren't the ones with boots on the ground. They aren't the ones coordinating the logistics. If they decided to go to war, I would HOPE enough of the military would refuse to cooperate that any efforts fail before they get off the ground. I would have absolutely gone AWOL if the administration declared war on an EU nation. Not only do I have friends there, I know enough about them to know if we're fighting, they aren't the ones who started it.
I can only hope that the people in the military now would just decline any orders to invade a foreign country based on trade bullshit from an orange blob.
All that said, if they DID decide to start shit, I fully believe the EU is capable of defending its home from invasion, if not just blitzkrieg-era bombardment.
You could stop the armies, but not the navies.