German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius urged European governments to act more confidently toward the United States.
It would be a mistake “if we stared at the White House like a rabbit staring at a snake,” Pistorius told the RND media group.
He added: “Then we would lose focus on what we need to do: Become more sovereign and independent.”
US President Donald Trump relies on uncertainty and fear to achieve his goals, “but those who are afraid make the wrong decisions, so let’s not allow ourselves to be intimidated,” said the defense minister.
Pistorius was referring to European governments’ resistance to Trump’s renewed push to have the US take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Europe’s strategic importance to the US
He stressed that the US needs Europe just as much as the Europeans need the US, saying that Europe is of geostrategic and geoeconomic importance to Washington.
“Imagine if Europe were to become Russia’s sphere of influence if [Russian President] Vladimir Putin succeeded in driving the Americans out of here or causing them to withdraw,” Pistorius said.
Washington would be “sandwiched between Russia and China. That would certainly not be in the Americans’ interest,” he added.
demolidor57 on
Mutual dependence isn’t weakness it’s how alliances work. The real question is whether both sides are willing to invest equally in that partnership.
One_Alternative_6965 on
Hard pass on United States for Pedofiles
[deleted] on
[deleted]
Tricky-Task-1149 on
Well, yes, they do. And Europe so far has been their faithful money bag.
– Tariffs on european goods? Yes, Master!
– 5% of our GPD to buy US weapons? Yes, Master!
– No trade with China? Yes, Master!
– Buy incredibly expensive US gas? Yes, Master!
– No taxes of US tech giants? Yes, Master!
European foreing policy is a joke. And “Kallas & Von Der Leyen!” is the punch line.
Smalahove1 on
Annoying to see the weak leadership in Europe. All this bullshit about “Unity”
If the EU politicians spend like 1% effort on fixing the defense industry as they do hogging the PR spotlight.
We would have no issues.
But then again, our leadership is the generation that views USA with stars in their eyes.
Fucking get my generation to lead us, i am not biased. I did not grow up in an era full of propaganda.
Where “everything good” came from america. No in my lifetime everything bad has come from america.
aleqqqs on
“US needs Europe” as in “US needs Greenland”? For “national security”?
Hungry-Geologist911 on
US needs money and a lot of hamburgers, that’s all.
lostinspacs on
The Cold War relationship doesn’t make much sense anymore. Russia is not the USSR and is much more of a local problem for Europe.
Also European industry is being crushed by China and one of the solutions is to displace American tech and services and build local champions.
There’s no logical reason to protect an economic competitor. But the US doesn’t need to attack Greenland and antagonize Europe either, that’s just dumb.
pleasehurtdoll on
lol, no, the real world is not reddit or DW and no one in the US would notice if all of Eastern or Central Europe disappeared. Most mericans think of Europe only as Western Europe and give that the same level of thought as Canada, i.e. 15% feel a fondness, cultural and fraternal connection, and/or occasionally visit, but the vast majority give it no thought and feel no connection at all to it. The demographics of the US have shifted any sense of cultural or historic bond. No one in the US ever says that we’re in a “special relationship” or that we’re “friends”, that is simply an idea on this side of the atlantic. Maybe a third of americans visit Paris or London or Italy once or twice in their life on a holiday package tour, so as long as that still exists, no one there will notice. For all the countries besides UK,France, Spain, Italy, no one is interested on way or the other, really. No one is concerned about Denmark’s ‘relationship’ – no one there ever heard of them besides their cookies. If Germany spoke Chinese or Russian, the average american would not care one bit – that’s not derogatory, it’s just that they also don’t care about the concerns of Argentina or Singapore either. We have to stop thinking that we are the center of the modern world or somehow on their consciousness – we are not.
It’s in their interest to cooperate with us to our mutual benefit but we can’t convince them they ‘need’ us, because they don’t. Ukraine was a yard sign fad for progressive people a few years ago but they’ve move on to new popular slogans. The russian army literally just developed the technology of wearing socks (seriously, google it), and no one is interested in pretending that they pose a threat. The second world war ended 80 years ago and no one thinks they need to be here at all. If Germany thinks those US bases are no longer wanted, I am sure Poland or one of the baltics would be happy to have them, otherwise they can find someplace in africa to project power if needed, or just send those rapid response troops and logistics and aircraft, etc home and save some $$
There’s no alliance, because the rest of NATO has various military ***capacities*** but essentially no military ***capability*** to wage war. Various ‘allies’ have between zero to maybe eight of the 40+ competencies needed for a modern military, but all of them combined still lack most of what’s needed to fight a war. The US seems to have everything they need to kill/destroy/menace/bully without our contribution. Why we think we can give a speech that changes this is baffling.
11 commenti
Oh no! Don’t give them ideas. 😬😅
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius urged European governments to act more confidently toward the United States.
It would be a mistake “if we stared at the White House like a rabbit staring at a snake,” Pistorius told the RND media group.
He added: “Then we would lose focus on what we need to do: Become more sovereign and independent.”
US President Donald Trump relies on uncertainty and fear to achieve his goals, “but those who are afraid make the wrong decisions, so let’s not allow ourselves to be intimidated,” said the defense minister.
Pistorius was referring to European governments’ resistance to Trump’s renewed push to have the US take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.
Europe’s strategic importance to the US
He stressed that the US needs Europe just as much as the Europeans need the US, saying that Europe is of geostrategic and geoeconomic importance to Washington.
“Imagine if Europe were to become Russia’s sphere of influence if [Russian President] Vladimir Putin succeeded in driving the Americans out of here or causing them to withdraw,” Pistorius said.
Washington would be “sandwiched between Russia and China. That would certainly not be in the Americans’ interest,” he added.
Mutual dependence isn’t weakness it’s how alliances work. The real question is whether both sides are willing to invest equally in that partnership.
Hard pass on United States for Pedofiles
[deleted]
Well, yes, they do. And Europe so far has been their faithful money bag.
– Tariffs on european goods? Yes, Master!
– 5% of our GPD to buy US weapons? Yes, Master!
– No trade with China? Yes, Master!
– Buy incredibly expensive US gas? Yes, Master!
– No taxes of US tech giants? Yes, Master!
European foreing policy is a joke. And “Kallas & Von Der Leyen!” is the punch line.
Annoying to see the weak leadership in Europe. All this bullshit about “Unity”
If the EU politicians spend like 1% effort on fixing the defense industry as they do hogging the PR spotlight.
We would have no issues.
But then again, our leadership is the generation that views USA with stars in their eyes.
Fucking get my generation to lead us, i am not biased. I did not grow up in an era full of propaganda.
Where “everything good” came from america. No in my lifetime everything bad has come from america.
“US needs Europe” as in “US needs Greenland”? For “national security”?
US needs money and a lot of hamburgers, that’s all.
The Cold War relationship doesn’t make much sense anymore. Russia is not the USSR and is much more of a local problem for Europe.
Also European industry is being crushed by China and one of the solutions is to displace American tech and services and build local champions.
There’s no logical reason to protect an economic competitor. But the US doesn’t need to attack Greenland and antagonize Europe either, that’s just dumb.
lol, no, the real world is not reddit or DW and no one in the US would notice if all of Eastern or Central Europe disappeared. Most mericans think of Europe only as Western Europe and give that the same level of thought as Canada, i.e. 15% feel a fondness, cultural and fraternal connection, and/or occasionally visit, but the vast majority give it no thought and feel no connection at all to it. The demographics of the US have shifted any sense of cultural or historic bond. No one in the US ever says that we’re in a “special relationship” or that we’re “friends”, that is simply an idea on this side of the atlantic. Maybe a third of americans visit Paris or London or Italy once or twice in their life on a holiday package tour, so as long as that still exists, no one there will notice. For all the countries besides UK,France, Spain, Italy, no one is interested on way or the other, really. No one is concerned about Denmark’s ‘relationship’ – no one there ever heard of them besides their cookies. If Germany spoke Chinese or Russian, the average american would not care one bit – that’s not derogatory, it’s just that they also don’t care about the concerns of Argentina or Singapore either. We have to stop thinking that we are the center of the modern world or somehow on their consciousness – we are not.
It’s in their interest to cooperate with us to our mutual benefit but we can’t convince them they ‘need’ us, because they don’t. Ukraine was a yard sign fad for progressive people a few years ago but they’ve move on to new popular slogans. The russian army literally just developed the technology of wearing socks (seriously, google it), and no one is interested in pretending that they pose a threat. The second world war ended 80 years ago and no one thinks they need to be here at all. If Germany thinks those US bases are no longer wanted, I am sure Poland or one of the baltics would be happy to have them, otherwise they can find someplace in africa to project power if needed, or just send those rapid response troops and logistics and aircraft, etc home and save some $$
There’s no alliance, because the rest of NATO has various military ***capacities*** but essentially no military ***capability*** to wage war. Various ‘allies’ have between zero to maybe eight of the 40+ competencies needed for a modern military, but all of them combined still lack most of what’s needed to fight a war. The US seems to have everything they need to kill/destroy/menace/bully without our contribution. Why we think we can give a speech that changes this is baffling.