@largo @randahl I suspect if they spent more than 2% GDP on defense they wouldn't even need to federalize to get independence from US. I think one thing we've learned in the last couple years is Europe can easily keep Russia in check if they get their act together.
No need to maintain this dependence on the US. US electorate increasingly seems to also not want them to do this. win win.
@largo @randahl Yeah, this is kind of Trump's point, too, I think. For all his other failings I think he's sort of on to something here.
I don't know if Europe needs a federation for coordinating military action. Countries at war seem historically to be able to solve that problem without too much trouble.
@ech @randahl
This is not at all about spending, which suggests that the solution to security is "more guns and bombs", which it is not. To prevent conflicts you need sane diplomacy and independent foreign policy. Even if you did spend +2% on defence, you're not going to become more dominant than the US which has its bases dotted around Europe. Besides who is in charge of Europe? It's clear that it's no one; who would be in charge of an EU army? We need some sort of federation for that.