> They're struggling to come to grips with the idea of a Russian invasion on their eastern borders

Or rather struggling to hold onto the fantasy of a Russian invasion on their Eastern borders, when Russia has spent 4 years in order to manage to hold on to a quarter of Ukraine, entirely filled with Russians.

> But at the same time, their politicians can't do anything because the minute they suggest that they might have to start cutting pensions and public welfare, and all of these different things in order to start supporting national industry and defense, they lose support immediately.

They don't have to do this [edit: spend excessively on defense], they can cut public spending somewhat and invest (and aid private investment), but the EU is too weak to do this. What they're hoping is that spending on arms can revive their economies. They deeply need a looming threat to convince member states to do this. They should instead make the EU a real federation with teeth (and a real central bank), or call it a day.

The EU needs a proper way to get investment into technology, innovation and infrastructure, not to invade the east a third time (not that they're willing to spend the money on that either, no matter how hard they propagandize and censor.)

The EU seems to spend most of its time threatening to regulate things that it has no ability to produce, and is also not investing in its future ability to produce. It seems doomed to continue to be a vassal of the US, or if it wises up just a little bit, a vassal of China.

edit: Wolfgang Munchau can't stop banging this drum. The European upper-middle class is completely delusional (and up its own ass) in a way that makes even Americans look almost sane. European elites are just US pawns, while they feed these delusions with anti-American "fellow kids" rhetoric.

edit2: Munchau example: https://unherd.com/2026/07/the-great-german-own-goal/