President Donald Trump's Final Days...

[laberbacke]

Originally Posted by wildtig2013

If this is indicative of how the armed forces of most NATO members countries are, good luck trying to stop the Russians without the USA help from invading Western Europe.

https://www.thelocal.de/20180502/ger...er-jets-report

The RAF has pulled the HARRIERs from service before it's replacements, the F-35, has even been delivered in full squadrons.

The Royal Navy has no Carrier Battle Group.

The only 2 carrier in the Royal Navy, the brand new HMS Queen Elizabeth won't be fully operational until 2020 and so far during sea trials, it had nothing but mechanical issues.

Same for the HMS Prince of Wales which also won't become operational until 2020 and it's in the same class as the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Plus both of them are more like an escort carrier than a full attack front line carrier.

That's not an issue of money per se, but primarily an issue of mismanagement and lack of coordination. More money only increases the waste, if the structural problems behind how that money is spent don't get fixed.

As it stands, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. There are six times as many different weapons systems in the 28 EU militaries compared to the US. The EU already outspends Russia more than three to one on military, yet wouldn't be able to repell a conventional assault from the Russians without American help. If it outspends Russia five to one after Trump's demanded budget increases, but the management and coordination doesn't get more effective, that outcome won't change much.

One is stronger than five, as King Robert explains in Game of Thrones. Caesar conquered Gaul, even though his troops were outnumbered eight to one - he picked them off one by one, playing one against the other. One army under one leadership with one goal will always have an advantage over several armies with different agendas. Yet, a withdrawal of American forces would finally force our leaders to get their shit together and crawl out of America's long, comfortable shadow, out of pure necessity.

There's no monetary reason why the German Bundeswehr, funded with thrice the budget, can only field a fraction of the active tanks, artillery, jets and helicopters that the IDF can. To the Israelis, their military isn't just a black hole of pork and earmarks to mollify local politicians and their regional arms manufacturers, but its combat readiness is a matter of the very survival of the nation. That's a strong motivation to get your shit together, and one that hasn't existed in Berlin, Paris and London since the Cold War ended. Washington was always just a call away, but those times are clearly over - and won't come back.

If we make the right plays, Trump may end up a blessing in disguise for the Europeans.