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from
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/02/europe-deserves-its-humiliation/

Europe Deserves Its Humiliation

A Polish Army soldier sits in a tank as a NATO flag flies behind during
the NATO Noble Jump military exercises of the Very High Readiness Joint
Task Force in Zagan, Poland, June 18, 2015.(Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
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446
By Rich Lowry
February 18, 2025 6:30 AM
446 Comments
Listen
It must spend more for its own defense, as American leaders have warned
for years.
Europe has been warned, and warned again.

Still, it has been reduced to a near-fainting fit — and, in the case of
one German official, actual tears — over the Trump administration’s
tough words about its deficient military spending and its moves to begin negotiating on its own with Russia over the Ukraine war.

In response, French President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency summit
of European leaders, which his advisers insisted wasn’t an emergency
summit at all, but merely a rapidly assembled informal meeting.

Whatever the nomenclature, there are signs that Europe is beginning to
get the memo — or, more precisely, beginning ...

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Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review. @richlowry
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jabster
Hall of Famer
The elephant in the room is that the economies in Canada, the EU, and
the UK are in the toilet, thanks to proggy policies in each of those
countries. They are scared scheißeless of the possibility of tariffs.
Tariffs won't be good for the US in any multiverse, but they will be devastating to those countries.

The GDPs of Canada and the EU have both flatlined since the election of
Trudeau in the case of Canada, and the Great Recession coincident with
the leadership of East German Merkel and Hot for Teacher Macron in the
case of the EU.

The biggest fear they have of Trump is that their own people may start
to get dangerous ideas.

The second biggest fear is that the welfare state gravy train will have
to come to a screeching halt to Pay Their Fair Share(TM) for NATO to
stay intact.


DNW
VIP
The US should commit to no more than the lowest NATO contributor. I
believe that’s Italy at around 1.5%

Reply
29 min ago • Edited

livingrightfromtheleftcoast
Top Commenter
For how many years have we been told how amazing so and so leftist /
socialist EU country is and why cant we have that? BECAUSE THEY DON'T
PAY FOR THIER DEFENSE! They pay for their citizens to not work and have
free health care. I don't see how they reverse course and suddenly tell
their voters that all that welfare is going away. Welfare is a one way
street. We see it here in the inner cities where we are 6 generations
into a welfare system that has caused the cities to become unlivable.

Reply
38 min ago • Edited

InkStained
Hall of Famer
If NATO = the U.S. continues to do most of the spending, building,
bleeding and dying, while Europe continues to enjoy seven (or more) paid vacation weeks a year, then NATO is probably finished.

If NATO means an actual alliance of serious, independent nations, let's
talk.


Reply
48 min ago

Wayfinder
Conversation Starter
There is no doubt that Europe needs to step up its defense spending and readiness. There is no doubt that some of the older NATO members such as
France and Germany have thrived under the U.S. security umbrella since
the end of WW II while being less than grateful for the hundreds of
thousands of American lives lost to free Europe. Having said that, we
need to make sure that we do not alienate our allies, friends, and
partners, wherever they are. Our foreign policy needs to be both strong
and smart, not strong and reckless. Let’s continue to work with
Europeans and keep them on our side even if it means we have to tell
them hard truths. Abandoning NATO and losing Europe to Russia would be a strategic mistake of colossal proportions.



Wayfinder
Conversation Starter
I said that doing that would be a huge mistake.

Reply
13 min ago

JimBob5881
Legend
Part of the dismantling of Europe that is the result of the E.U. is that
Europe is made more easily invaded .....not by foreign powers like
Russia...but a culture like Islam.

Reply
1 hour ago

pabloabo
Hall of Famer
I agree with this article. Further, I think an amendment to the NATO
charter should not make 2% of GDP spending a target, but a requirement
to remain in NATO and to trigger Article 5.
Now, countries like Luxembourg, Spain and Italy might think they are far
enough away from the action to worry too much about Russian aggression.
But non state actors, or non nuclear states pose a grave threat as well.
They should care about this more than they do since the only time
Article 5 was triggered in NATO history was after 9/11--and it was not
due Russian/USSR aggression.


Reply
1 hour ago


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