News and information from Europe 🇪🇺
(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)
(This list may get expanded as necessary.)
Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com
(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)
We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.
If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.
If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @EuroMod@feddit.org
To be fair to him, his role isn't about European independence. That's the EU's job. Currently NATOs defense capability is built around the US, the organizer and founding member. It makes no sense for him to not consider the US because that would defeat the purpose of NATO.
Doesn't really matter what he says if you want EU independence.
It makes no sense for him to not consider the US because that would defeat the purpose of NATO.
The US has already breached articles 1 and 2, and made it clear they were ready to attack a NATO ally.
- The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, to settle any international dispute in which they may be involved by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security and justice are not endangered, and to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations.
- The Parties will contribute toward the further development of peaceful and friendly international relations by strengthening their free institutions, by bringing about a better understanding of the principles upon which these institutions are founded, and by promoting conditions of stability and well-being. They will seek to eliminate conflict in their international economic policies and will encourage economic collaboration between any or all of them.
So it makes a lot of sense to consider how NATO would defend itself not only against the US but also in their absence in case of a conflict.
He chose to take the role of the Trump Appeaser. That's fine with me.
But it also means I couldn't care less about what he's talking when it comes to steps to European independence.
He has been prime minister for long enough to know exactly how little the European leaders will care about his Trump appeasements.
I still think that Rutte is the perfect guy for this role, now that we have to deal with Trump. Able to change position while shrugging of any hypocrasy, as slimy as your steriotypical politician, and plenty of experience.
Vlad Vexler read a quote recently from the Jens Stoltenberg book (I haven't read it yet) on a NATO meeting during Trump's first term. The US delegation was ready to leave, and Rutte managed to make Trump stay, by praising Trump to the skies. This really put him in the position to become Sec Gen. And I agree - he is perfect for the role of Sec Gen during the current Trump era, for his position of keeping NATO alive.
I think most people see Rutte as a bad Sec Gen, due to him "letting" Trump do and say whatever, and help destroy the current international order. But his job is not to keep the international order alive, its to keep NATO alive. Whether NATO will survive a change to the international order is a different question though.
That is the dumbest stance possible. Refusing to acknowledge a scenario does not make said scenario any less valid when it happens, and it is happening.
@gravitas_deficiency @skepller
Exactly.
And continuing to imagine the US is on Europe's side is essentially Stockholm Syndrome at this point.
You'd hope it's just diplomatic talk. Say one thing, do another.
but the US is the next major threat we might need to defend against..?
He's not representing 'we, the Europeans' but 'us, all members of Nato'.
Adding up the spending of all EU members, we spend more than China; we don't even need to spend more, we just need to unify spending.
NATO Sec Gen dismisses idea of future without NATO
Also, we've seen those texts where he's absolutely gargling those little Trump balls
I mean, it's literally his job to suck Trumps dick right now. And that makes it everyone else's job to just ignore what he says
Oooh spicy. What's in the texts?
Thanks!
Bend over further
"Yes daddy"
-Mark Rutte
I guess he is afraid that European independent security will make NATO irrelevant and in turn make him irrelevant (and unemployed). Go suck Trump's dick harder, we still cannot hear the slurping from across the Atlantic. He's gone native on us.
Mark was always giving me vibe of suit which will rather run and bend than protect and fight. No-one said it will be easy or cheap. Does he think Ukraine defends itself because it’s easy or cheap? It’s existential matter. And France has nuclear capabilities, as NATO chief he surely knows about it but doesn’t want to make his daddy upset
Could be honest… but I never hear him "talking sense" into US Americans. It's always Europe that should fall in line. Maybe I just missed it?
He is credited for convincing Trump that doing what Putin wants is a bad idea twice or trice, but don't think he ever addressed the people of the US.
He is picking the easy target. He tries to keep the alliance together and probably knows that talking to US Americans is meaningless or too difficult, so he chooses the easy way out.
The Europeans won't deprive him of his Amazon account after all.
Totally agreeing with you
Europe is “dreaming” if it believes it can defend itself without US backing, Nato’s secretary-general has warned, pushing back against calls in some EU capitals to prepare for a future without Washington’s protection.
The comments come after Donald Trump threatened to use military force to seize Greenland from Nato ally Denmark and to impose tariffs on other allies who opposed him — remarks that unsettled European governments and reignited debate over the continent’s reliance on the US. Although the US president rescinded the threats last week, they prompted renewed calls for Europe to accelerate efforts to strengthen its own defence capabilities.
Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general who last week persuaded Trump to withdraw his threats, dismissed those arguments on Monday. Rutte told EU lawmakers that building a fully independent European defence would be prohibitively expensive and would benefit only the bloc’s adversaries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“If anyone thinks here . . . that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming,” he said in remarks to the European parliament. “You can’t.”
“I think there will be a lot of duplication and I wish you luck if you want to do it, because you have to find the men and women in uniform . . . on top of what is happening already,” he said. “It will make things more complicated. I think Putin will love it. So think again.”
Independence from the US security umbrella that has shielded Europe since the second world war was once a niche idea, promoted largely by France.
But the notion of “strategic autonomy” has moved steadily into the EU mainstream in recent years, as Donald Trump’s erratic approach to Nato allies — reinforced by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine — has sharpened debate over how Europe can strengthen its own defence capabilities.
Last year Nato allies agreed to lift their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, responding to Trump’s demand that Europe shoulder a larger share of the burden for its own defence.
Even so, experts warn that fully replacing the US role in Europe — particularly in areas such as advanced weaponry and critical capabilities on which European forces have relied for decades — would be vastly more expensive.
“If you really want to go it alone, forget that you can ever get there with 5 per cent [defence spending]. It will be 10 per cent,” Rutte said on Monday. “You have to build up your own nuclear capability. That costs billions and billions of euros.”
“If anyone thinks here . . . that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming,” he said in remarks to the European parliament. “You can’t.”
So just give up and let the USA have its Nazi way with you while pretending it's your ally? Fuck that. This man needs to go because he's not on the side of Europe.
He's on the side of nato. This man is just doing his job. Get your expectations straight, Nato is what has to go.
Isn't he supposed to not say the quiet part of his agenda out loud?
“If anyone thinks here . . . that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the US, keep on dreaming,” he said in remarks to the European parliament. “You can’t.”
Ah yes, a continent with 450 million people can't possibly organize its productive forces to defend itself! I hope people are paying attention to the bullshit these people are spinning.
“If you really want to go it alone, forget that you can ever get there with 5 per cent [defence spending]. It will be 10 per cent,” Rutte said on Monday. “You have to build up your own nuclear capability. That costs billions and billions of euros.”
France has built 290 warheads with their usual budget. Nuclear weapons are not the problem.
The problem are the anti ICBM satellite weapons. That space race killed the USSR. There is also the need to create the chips for autonomous drones.
China has more than twice the manpower of the EU. If the US and the EU do not cooperate then China will crush the West economically like the West has crushed the USSR.
The US knows this and believes that the EU has no other choice but to cooperate.
Europe should use the American desire for being the hegemon as a lever to receive better conditions. America wants to be number one much more than the EU wants to be number two.
The only chance we have of defending all of Europe with a European army is with a European federation. If only Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Norway decide to fund a European defence, it will never rival or replace the US. It needs the entire continent, minus the Pooteen ball lickers in Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia.
I'm not sure what he is saying. Is he saying that Europe should give up the ambition or is he saying that EU needs to accept that it will cost more than they are currently shelling in?
“Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.”
Mark Rutte about Trump, 2025
The fuck?
As an American, you need a strong military because you are the only hope for genuine honest American citizens.
Crazy... But true.
Wat is er je beloofd Mark ?,postje voor het leven bij rnicrosoft