The blissful clappy period for the Western European bloc is over, as “robust man” Emmanuel Macron emerges to steer it into battle
By Kommersant FM political observer Dmitry Drize
The EU doesn’t intend to die for the Donbass. This was acknowledged by its international coverage commissioner Josep Borrell final week. The leaders of the nations of the Western European bloc will talk about rising protection spending and determine on the destiny of frozen Russian property at their subsequent summit.
Borrell urged his colleagues to not inflame the scenario and frighten atypical folks for nothing. The senior official was referring to current feedback made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken of presumably sending troops into Ukraine.
From the Kremlin’s standpoint, the conduct of Western leaders up to now appears indecisive, however critical adjustments may very well be afoot.
The subsequent EU summit may very well be described as historic. The principle challenge isn’t even the destiny of Russia’s frozen property, however the truth that, maybe for the primary time, the bloc is discussing the transition to a navy economic system. As European Council President Charles Michel put it, the time has come to vary the paradigm of protection and safety relations. The essence of that is that Western Europe was completely unprepared for warfare. No one anticipated it, and no person even thought it was attainable.
What had been their priorities? Local weather – they wrote pointers for farmers on how a lot carbon monoxide their cows ought to emit in order that they don’t spoil the atmosphere.
What else? Gender neutrality, multiculturalism, gender equality – towards such a contented, rosy background, they forgot in regards to the navy risk. Now they must catch up. They must commerce in not solely their financial but additionally their political yardsticks in order that the citizens actually and severely believes in a Russian risk.
That, too, would require appreciable funding.
There aren’t any particulars but, however the excessive poles have been outlined. The tone has been set by Macron. The French president has not dominated out sending troops to Ukraine.
A few of his allies have expressed alarm at this and are denying the likelihood in each attainable means. Nonetheless, the truth is that nothing might be dominated out, together with this state of affairs, particularly if the Ukrainian entrance line falls.
To keep away from all this, they should discover the means to assist Kiev extra actively. By the way, Donald Trump spoke about this when he was in workplace – they didn’t pay attention. However he was proper. Now, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has stated that the coverage of accelerating navy spending is political suicide for her, however there isn’t any different selection.
And what about Russia, which is cited as the principle risk? They communicate of horrible punishments, however have did not outline their precise nature.
Our former companions haven’t but made up their minds. Nonetheless, I want to remind you of 1 easy factor: if a illness isn’t cured, it is not going to go away by itself; it’ll solely worsen.
It’s the identical with navy conflicts, as a result of they’ve a behavior of rising uncontrolled if they don’t seem to be stopped in time.
This text was first printed by Kommersant, translated and edited by the RT workforce
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