15 minutes ago, Peter Crow said:

China, China, China...

whoever  being friends is almost always  cheaper...except if its friends with the USA

being enemies of the USA is dangerous  being friends with them is lethal !! 😋

4 hours ago, Social Media said:

 

 

 

Inside Washington itself, the order may not even represent a unified government position. The Pentagon is driving the urgency, but Trump’s administration remains split. The president has long hammered Europe for relying on American protection while dragging its feet on spending. Now the rhetoric has teeth: not withdrawal from NATO, but withdrawal from the pieces Europeans rely on most — intelligence fusion, joint planning, and front-line coordination in the East.

 

 

 

 

Right and spending billions on American hardware as well. When is Europe going to realise that it needs to spend its defence budgets on European hardware.

13 minutes ago, Geoff914 said:

When is Europe going to realise that it needs to spend its defence budgets on European hardware.

When it revives its manufacturing base  after reviving cheap energy

for heavy industries  10 - 20 years at least.

4 hours ago, Social Media said:

Europe Told: Take Over NATO Or Face U.S. Pullback By 2027

 

Washington has fired its loudest warning shot at Europe in decades: take charge of NATO’s conventional defence by 2027, or the United States will step back from key command and coordination roles. The message, delivered behind closed doors to diplomats in Washington and confirmed by multiple sources including a U.S. official speaking to Reuters, jolted even seasoned NATO insiders.

 

The Pentagon’s ultimatum covers everything short of nuclear weapons: intelligence networks, satellite reconnaissance, air defences, missiles, ground forces, logistics, and the industrial muscle to supply them. Put bluntly — Europe must become the backbone of NATO’s conventional power, and fast.

Washington’s patience has run thin. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Europe has talked big, spent more, but built slowly. American officials say they can no longer divert resources needed for the Indo-Pacific, where China is preparing for its own showdown. And 2027 is no arbitrary date: it matches the year Chinese military planners have flagged as the earliest feasible window for an assault on Taiwan.

 

European diplomats are already groaning. Budgets have risen, yes — but factories take years to build, artillery production is backed up, and even U.S. manufacturers need years to deliver new tank or missile orders. Infrastructure, training pipelines, and command structures are nowhere near ready for a full-scale transfer of responsibility.

 

The deadline is brutally tight. Even the EU’s own defence blueprint doesn’t imagine Europe being fight-ready without the U.S. until 2030. Some capitals privately mock the timeline as “impossible”; others, especially Poland and the Baltics, say it was inevitable.

 

Inside Washington itself, the order may not even represent a unified government position. The Pentagon is driving the urgency, but Trump’s administration remains split. The president has long hammered Europe for relying on American protection while dragging its feet on spending. Now the rhetoric has teeth: not withdrawal from NATO, but withdrawal from the pieces Europeans rely on most — intelligence fusion, joint planning, and front-line coordination in the East.

 

Still, the U.S. insists its nuclear umbrella and core strategic presence will remain. That alone shows this is not a divorce; it’s a forced adolescence. Europe must become the adult partner in its own defence.

 

If the continent misses the deadline, NATO won’t collapse overnight. But the U.S. may quietly pull back from vital roles, leaving Europe scrambling to build an air-defence network, a rapid-reaction command, and the industrial base to sustain a high-tech war mostly on its own. Success by 2027 could make NATO a stronger, more resilient alliance of equals. Failure could usher in a foggy, dangerous era of uncertainty — exactly the environment Russia would exploit.

The clock is ticking. Europe now has two years to prove it isn’t just a dependent but a partner.

 

Key Takeaways

• Pentagon issues a hard 2027 deadline for Europe to assume most of NATO’s conventional defence — or face a U.S. step-back.

• eadline aligns with China’s 2027 Taiwan threat window, signalling Washington’s pivot toward the Indo-Pacific.

• European governments warn the demand is nearly impossible, risking a fractured and unstable NATO if the continent fails to deliver.

 

SOURCE:  TOMORROWS AFFAIRS

 

 

 

 

 

This publication seems to be quite secretive about what it actually is.

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Europe has talked big, spent more, but built slowly. American officials say they can no longer divert resources needed for the Indo-Pacific, where China is preparing for its own showdown.

 

I wish this were true. But I suspect Trump is making a deal with China and Russia, bringing in India and Japan at the edge, to establish a new diplomatic order with clearly defined areas of interest/influence. Europe just doesn't figure in the equation. It will drop somewhere in the Russia zone; those of us in SE Asia, if we're lucky, will be in the part of the region that goes under Japanese, instead of Chinese, control. The US gets the Americas and most of the Pacific. India gets to colonize Australia/New Zealand. That's the future, I'd bet. Not my idea of a good result, but that's what I believe Trump and company want. Putin, Xi, and Modi will be eager to join in the division of spoils.

25 minutes ago, John Drake said:

 

I wish this were true. But I suspect Trump is making a deal with China and Russia, bringing in India and Japan at the edge, to establish a new diplomatic order with clearly defined areas of interest/influence. Europe just doesn't figure in the equation. It will drop somewhere in the Russia zone; those of us in SE Asia, if we're lucky, will be in the part of the region that goes under Japanese, instead of Chinese, control. The US gets the Americas and most of the Pacific. India gets to colonize Australia/New Zealand. That's the future, I'd bet. Not my idea of a good result, but that's what I believe Trump and company want. Putin, Xi, and Modi will be eager to join in the division of spoils.

 

Well that's something different, at least. Probably at most, too.

15 hours ago, GreasyFingers said:

Do you mean those that don't believe in America.

No....😉

On 12/10/2025 at 10:54 AM, mordothailand said:

i hope it gets cold in Germany this winter,

especially wherever Angela Merkel lives

Where have you been for the last four years?

On 12/10/2025 at 1:07 PM, John Drake said:

 

I wish this were true. But I suspect Trump is making a deal with China and Russia, bringing in India and Japan at the edge, to establish a new diplomatic order with clearly defined areas of interest/influence. Europe just doesn't figure in the equation. It will drop somewhere in the Russia zone; those of us in SE Asia, if we're lucky, will be in the part of the region that goes under Japanese, instead of Chinese, control. The US gets the Americas and most of the Pacific. India gets to colonize Australia/New Zealand. That's the future, I'd bet. Not my idea of a good result, but that's what I believe Trump and company want. Putin, Xi, and Modi will be eager to join in the division of spoils.

Your under China I am afraid. Well you are anyway.

 

8 hours ago, Geoff914 said:

Where have you been for the last four years?

sweden, -an even colder <deleted>hole than germany, why is she finally dead ?