Having read US defence secretary Hegseth’s speech (available in full here: augengeradeaus.net/2025/02/doku...), I have to say: The fact, that what he says is pretty catastrophic for Europe is 100% our fault. - ThreadSky

rikefranke.bsky.social • 10 days ago

Having read US defence secretary Hegseth’s speech
(available in full here: https://augengeradeaus.net/2025/02/dokumentation-hegseths-rede-an-die-europaeer-uebernehmt-selbst-die-verantwortung/), I have to say:
The fact, that what he says is pretty catastrophic for Europe is 100% our fault.

Comments

amari.bsky.social•10 days ago

Not sure if it possible, but why not strike a deal with @mark-carney.bsky.social for Canada to join Eu. We can cooperate on trade, building info security, ban X & other misinfo, strengthen climate incentives, and do ghg LCAs to substitute Canadian o&g for Russian w increasing renewables plan.

frenshamrobin.bsky.social•10 days ago

Those European forces defending Israel should be withdrawn to defend Europe. US needs to find its own bases to operate from elsewhere.

andreashopf.bsky.social•10 days ago

Not mine! Not one bit!

And we supporters of Ukraine will not give up! Not today! Not tomorrow!

rampanen.bsky.social•10 days ago

Which part exactly didn't you expect? It's a clear hurray for European defence industry.

morecords.bsky.social•10 days ago

this government must be checked:

jtc

#musicsky

https://jupitertuningcenter.bandcamp.com/track/the-change-and-you

hisbpf.bsky.social•10 days ago

That is absolutely correct. Years that could have been used to prepare to cope with this have been utterly wasted. The symbolic bird of the EU, at least of Old Western Europe, should be the ostrich.

wido76.bsky.social•10 days ago

Agreed.

justmeanybody.bsky.social•9 days ago

Your fault how, for allowing yourselves to become too dependent? Because it seems mostly OUR fault for not living up to our commitments and going insane.

makonori61.bsky.social•9 days ago

Because Europe should have supported Ukraine 100% from Day 1.
Aircraft, tanks, artillery, ammo, everything should have been maximized for Ukraine.
Europe should not have left the US to be a major aid channel for Ukraine.

justmeanybody.bsky.social•9 days ago

Hegseth makes it crystal clear that now with Trump the US should never have been given the lead. He warned Europe 1st term Biden lulled it back to sleep. Pax Americana has been dying for several Presidencies - we want all the benefit without holding up our end of the bargain. History will deplore us

makonori61.bsky.social•9 days ago

As half American and Swedish resident: no, you will not be hated for this slow decline. Europe is just as responsible because it was split, passive and let Russian money soften it up. The collective west needs to get its act together and form a rock solid front. Russia must die to achieve this.

justmeanybody.bsky.social•9 days ago

Oh we'll be hated and condemned, Europe will be too - future generations will blame us for this. The only ones they'll love is Ukraine

makonori61.bsky.social•9 days ago

Possible...if they aren't in need of something.

justmeanybody.bsky.social•9 days ago

Agree. Europe should never have listened to Biden who held NATO back. Biden should have unleashed NATO to complete their mission to contain Russia. We all failed betrayed and sacrificed Ukraine stupidly thinking appeasement would work. But the US decided that to me we are most at fault.

tequila0341.bsky.social•10 days ago

The writing was on the wall in 2016. Any country that considers the US a reliable security partner in 2024 is wilfully insane

rikefranke.bsky.social•10 days ago

“Our transatlantic alliance has endured for decades, and we fully expect that it will be sustained for generations to come. But this won’t just happen. It will require our European allies to step into the arena and take ownership of conventional security on the continent.”

sberreth.bsky.social•10 days ago

Eine meiner grössten erklärhürden dieser tage ist es, „taking ownership of“ als Konzept den Deutschen um mich herum zu vermitteln. Es gibt leider auch keine wirklich funktionierende Wortübersetzung dazu. @rikefranke.bsky.social

rikefranke.bsky.social•10 days ago

“The US remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defence partnership with Europe. Full stop. But the US will no longer tolerate an inbalanced relationship which encourages dependency. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security.”

devialeth.bsky.social•10 days ago

smsaideman.bsky.social•10 days ago

You are giving Hegseth too much credit. While Europe should have invested more, Trump really isn't interested in how capable Europe is.

Trump would sell out Europe either way

ianford.bsky.social•10 days ago

Agreed. The spending was always a canard. You could pay 100% of your GDP into his bank account and he'd still throw you under the bus for a word of praise from Putin. Trump was just looking for an excuse to do this anyway.

rikefranke.bsky.social•10 days ago

Oh no, I didn’t mean “if only we had done more, they wouldn’t abandon us”. I mean we absolutely should have done more for years because it was in our interest!

smsaideman.bsky.social•10 days ago

Fair.

Many ways it didn't have to be this way.

rikefranke.bsky.social•10 days ago

This. There is not good reason that Europe just kept basing its security on the US to that extent.

https://bsky.app/profile/rikefranke.bsky.social/post/3lhz2i5ojbk2r

blaisev.bsky.social•10 days ago

You know I have a ton of respect for your analysis. But I feel like this time you are glossing over how much the US "encouraged" its EU ally to spend on defense by buying US weapons, making that spend in effect 1.X times more expensive as if it had been done on EU weapons.

../..

blaisev.bsky.social•10 days ago

../.. had the US been entirely sincere about pushing the EU to defense independence, it would have not undermined its defense industry to the same level

nato-enthusiast.bsky.social•10 days ago

I don't think committed is the right word when selling out a friend and playing buddy buddy with the lunatic itching to invade Europe

kampfschlaefer.de•10 days ago

Also doch 'america proofing europe' weil wir als Europa/EU eigenständiger werden wollen/müssen?

ggegan.bsky.social•10 days ago

The US is an unreliable ally and the less you rely on us the safer you will be.

rikefranke.bsky.social•10 days ago

In 2023

mapschen.bsky.social•10 days ago

Danke, Rike

boboblue.bsky.social•10 days ago

This is a one-eyed view on the US - Europe relationship focussing solely military strength. The US got a lot out of this seeming "inbalance". That said: Europe should have ramped up its capabilities to avoid this situation.

boboblue.bsky.social•10 days ago

What DT and Hegseth said today is utterly stupid because it ruins the West's negotiation position. Giving in to demands before negotiations started - great.

suechtelnranger.bsky.social•10 days ago

With the current government, the West no longer exists.

erikelmgren.bsky.social•10 days ago

+1

100% correct.

suechtelnranger.bsky.social•10 days ago

The weaknesses, especially the strong roles of the nation states, are well known and have been discussed in political science for many, many years - as you know better than I do. 2/2

suechtelnranger.bsky.social•10 days ago

That is absolutely correct and I fully agree with your position. Unfortunately, the challenges are enormous and I think that implementation in the current structure of the CSDP is almost impossible. 1/2

carfreitag.bsky.social•10 days ago

Ihr macht bald eine neue Folge zum @sicherheitspod.de anlässlich der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz, oder?

teekay.info•10 days ago

Hauptthema wird sein, ob FCAS das Problem kurzfristig lösen könnte, oder ob wir dazu auch dieses Main Panzer Dings bräuchten, das total gut in der Zeit- und Budgetplanung liegt.

shuffleosint.bsky.social•10 days ago

Watch the US later complain that Europe is too independent and not aligned closely with the the US after this.

gregorxxxsamsa.bsky.social•10 days ago

By balanced he means privileged access to critical minerals.

yousitonmyspot.bsky.social•10 days ago

Hard to believe.

icesurfer.bsky.social•10 days ago

I agree, but current situation is (was?) beneficial for both: security guarantees in exchange for arms sales and US bases in Europe allowing power projection. Maybe Europe can threaten to retaliate using those levers? Potential retaliation worked well for Mexico and Canada a few days ago.

i-a-h.bsky.social•10 days ago

Twenty five years ago on military staff course I remember being told by senior US speakers that America's patience with Europe on defence was starting to run out. At least they gave us a quarter of a century to put our house in order.

janchibrugiks.bsky.social•10 days ago

https://www.youtube.com/live/3TUbelAyAdo?si=ircapLEAuFfLLS99&t=813

samspade1941.bsky.social•10 days ago

Ukraine should only sell its resources to European NATO members, in exchange for aid and weapons.

Fuck America.

thejasonlee.bsky.social•8 days ago

samspade1941.bsky.social•8 days ago

And?

ivh.bsky.social•10 days ago

More worrying (although equally unsurprising) is Trump's Putin deference. https://bsky.app/profile/joerglau.bsky.social/post/3lhyxtdtko22j

tjmarsden.bsky.social•10 days ago

There he goes again with his 5% demand.

The EU on its own would be spending more at that level than the US is today, and with far greater focus.

If the deal is we're allied only as long as we are so equipped and prepared that we have not the slightest need for allies, then it's decorative at best.

johnvansickle.bsky.social•10 days ago

Assuming Europe did spend 5%—this is no guarantee that it would never need or want American help.

chichofras.bsky.social•10 days ago

Oh, but only conventional security? What about the expansion and further development of European nuclear capabilities, including first strike ones?
Also, why catastrophic?

yukidama9.bsky.social•10 days ago

Get up stand up !

madepmax.bsky.social•9 days ago

NOT OVER YET! Zelenskyy & EU Leaders Direct Response to US & Russian War Ending Rhetoric
YouTube video by Greg Terry Experience
https://youtu.be/268Gxxzi3-o

david-crossrace.bsky.social•10 days ago

There is only one solution: scale up forces.

louistk.bsky.social•10 days ago

Why would NATO still be beneficial for Europe without this imbalance? If we must spend more on defence why should Europe stay committed to the US?

rikefranke.bsky.social•10 days ago

So what is it that you’re gonna change?

goatbrain-brohill.bsky.social•10 days ago

If the 5% is spent on EU developing military capabilities internally and not pay for US hardware, they're not going to be happy. EU should spend those billions for sovereign military technology outside US ambit just to show they were the ones profiteering out of NATO massively

louistk.bsky.social•10 days ago

Put a stop to the relaying of drone signals in Rammstein which pose legal exposure to Germany due to the drones usage in illegal killings.
Empowering the ICC in the persecution of US war crimes.
Break the Dollar monopoly, so that US-sanctions pose a smaller risk.

boboblue.bsky.social•10 days ago

Build stronger connections to China, do not support US wars, ...

factforce.bsky.social•10 days ago

Build stronger connections to china, who is the key enabler of Russian terrorism on Europe?

That’s like shooting yourselves in the knee.

boboblue.bsky.social•10 days ago

Think out of the box. The goal of China is to weaken the West. If European countries approaches China and moves away from the US that has been achieved - no need for China to support the Russian war.

louistk.bsky.social•10 days ago

China is also the key to fighting climate change and world trade in the coming century.

We tolerated many excesses of the US in the past (NSA scandal, second gulf war and the destabilisation of the middle east) so it seems a small price to pay.

And why shouldn’t China support Russia?

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply