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Is Europe a Greater Threat to US Citizens Than Russia?
[HotAir] I have intimated this before, but it bears repeating after JD Vance's epic takedown of European powers, about which Beege wrote an outstanding post earlier today.

Vance was, in swamp terms, not very diplomatic. In more colloquial terms he let them have it with both barrels, pissing off the Germans fiercely enough to earn a rebuke for the totalitarian leftists who run that failing country.

Vance, channeling many of my posts I am sure, had this to say:
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Or go to the post we had here at Rantburg yesterday.
That is exactly right, and I would go a bit further (and have). Europe in recent years has become a greater threat to the United States of America, or at least the rights of American citizens, than Russia is.

Short of initiating a nuclear war--which they would never do--Russia presents no military threat to our country. We could wipe out their conventional military power in a weekend. Russian influence in the United States is minuscule because, aside from oil, which we can do without, they have little that we want, and they are little more than a gas station with nuclear weapons.

The Ukraine war shows that they cannot defeat a small country, no less the United States, and until we made Ukraine an issue of national importance, nobody in America, including business people, cared much about the country. The idea that Russia would invade a NATO country is a fantasy. They would get crushed.

We do compete with them for resources, but let's face it: China is our main adversary, not Russia.

So what about the Europeans? Over the past decade or two, they have become a massive thorn in our side. By pushing ESG, NetZero, and censorship that impacts American citizens and direct interference in our political campaigns, the Europeans have made a direct attack on Americans' rights. None of these is a theoretical threat. Americans' lives have been made worse, our rights have been restricted, and this is happening all while American taxpayers have been footing the bill for Europe's defense.

I was an ardent cold warrior, and I still despise the current Russian regime. They are akin to a mafia and profoundly illiberal. But Russia presents no direct threat to the US, Europeans, and especially our rights. If Russia disappeared from the face of the Earth little would change for Americans.

If the EU disappeared, however, Americans' rights would be more secure and our corporations would become far less woke. And while the disappearance of the market would cost us dearly, the reduced military expenditures would be a nice bonus.
Western Europe is the Vatican of Globalism.

Posted by: Grom the Affective 2025-02-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=740771