I can't understand how someone like that got into such a position.
Here's a quote by Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), who voted against his nomination:
"Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests," the senator said. "Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test. But as he assumes office, the consequences of failure are as high as they have ever been."
I can't understand how someone like that got into such a position.
If Hegseth gets cut-out, someone equally ridiculous will be chosen to fill that role.
Governments are simply run the same way businesses are now run
It's not because it's harder to use.
It's because it's recorded that they aren't using it.
The signal chat did not have anything that someone would try to hide. People want easy things, they want to manage an air strike using their mobile phone from their bedroom. They don't want to sit in their office for that or use some hardened government issued device that is older, uglier and an extra brick to take along, with no real support of IM (my assumptions on DoD devices)
This is a fucking job with requirements.
It's like being a doctor and ignoring the "do no harm" part.
This is a job where people get killed, sometimes in large numbers.
If a clown is at the helm, they are liability to them self and others and should be... forcibly removed.
In any case the same issues you have in a regular company also exists in the upper echelons, no reason you can't give them technology that is encrypted and easy to use. That doesn't mean they are supposed to use Signal though
What are you talking about, most EU member states have been a part of it from day 1.
Per capita and per GDP some of them have contributed more than the US.
The fact that the figures are polarizing helps, because everyone focuses on the person and not on what is actually happening.
Note that this is speculation, because we do not have full information.
The EU has it's own agency and it is a perfectly good thing for us to 'take over'.
And that guy is a cable show host.
Yes, Germany supplied moderate amounts of weapons in the beginning, so they were involved from the start if you like. Then Nordstream happened, then the previous US administration repeatedly put pressure on Germany and other EU countries to do more:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-tanks-germany-pressure-...
The US policy that the EU should get more involved has been a recurring theme during the Biden administration. Now the EU is begging the US to continue. We do not know if all this is political theater or if Trump really wants to end the war. We might know by the end of this year.
The utterly confused picture of what the president is thinking is itself a considerable problem. Political theater would be unconscionable, yet that is mostly what we get.
We expended much energy internally consumed by internal debates and arguments about who is supplying what, how much, through which channel. As EU member states we're not always aligned and we are different cultures speaking different languages. This has been used against us in the information warfare layer.
I really don't believe you can simplify the entire EU and say we're begging. There are certain capacities that we can't replace, and for decades member states prioritized dismantling our military industrial complex (in perfectly good faith!). Winding up heavy military industrial supply chains can't be an over-night process. And yeah, I believe you're absolutely correct - a lot of this is political theater.
My own personal view: the war won't be over anytime soon. The other side has gone all in on it. Even if they were to slam the brakes it would take years to reduce that momentum. They've had their own internal wars and purges fueling this thing and whatever they do, they would need to have a solid explanation. It's basically a sacred crusade to them.
Now, this might be controversial, but my personal belief is that on some level, we too prefer that the war grinds on. Only as long as it does not escalate into nuclear. It might be a cynical belief, but at this point it's the Ukrainians who are going to have years of real-life warfare experience and the EU wants access to this to learn from.
Anyways, there's a fucking TV host running the US DoD. These aren't serious people. Trump doesn't have nuanced ideas to read into on any of this - he wants to end the war as much as he wants to eat cheeseburgers and have crowds cheer for him. Maybe he'll get that headline, maybe he won't.
That's my two euro-cents ;)
Its a conventional war,russia is loosing it and presses all the keys on the propaganda organ because panic.