Can the EU muster political capital to fill the void that the US will leave in Ukraine?
I am most worried about East Asia, really hoping Taiwan survives the next 4 years.
I am most worried about East Asia, really hoping Taiwan survives the next 4 years.
The US alone currently has more than 2x the military expenditure of the entire EU. The US also has a larger GDP than the entire EU.
The US supplies the main bulk of Ukrainian military aid. https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-s...
The EU would have to make some very serious budgeting changes if they wanted to fill that void. A bunch of EU politicians would need to make the case for deep budget cuts, tax increases, war bonds, or some combination of those.
Even if it turned out that Trump has some backroom deal with Putin, and pushes hard for Ukraine to surrender - he'd be an absolute fool to not take that kind of money, and sell arms to European allies, and Ukraine.
That's money in the pocket for the US arms industry.
The silver lining is that the war costs much more to Russia - and that economic damage is accelerating as long as the sanctions are up. Russian interest rates being over 20% is a sign that things are starting to turn dire.
Whatever booming economy they're reporting, is a economy cannibalizing itself.
So, if Ukraine has the means to keep fighting, that will weaken Russia financially.