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Recently, several pieces of news from Europe have attracted attention.
First message. In response to people's concerns about changes in the U.S. policy toward Ukraine after the U.S. **, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech that it is impossible for Russia to win without the support of the United States. No matter what happens after the United States, Europe cannot allow Russia to win this war. In terms of concrete measures, proposals will be made in the coming weeks to promote the introduction of Europe's first defense industry strategy, and plans to open a defense office in Kyiv to strengthen cooperation.
The second message. The International Conference in Support of Ukraine was held in Paris. France** Macron said that France will form a deep strike alliance to provide Ukraine with medium-range and long-range missiles to carry out military strikes on targets in depth in the Russian Federation. France will also provide Ukraine with 250,000 fragmentation drones equipped with artificial intelligence to track individual targets. Macron even said that the possibility of sending ground troops to Ukraine in the future "cannot be ruled out."
The third message. Earlier, Ukraine**Zelensky signed a 10-year security agreement with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and France** Macron, respectively, and both Germany and France pledged to provide long-term military support to Ukraine to ensure the creation of a sustainable force capable of "defending Ukraine". Earlier, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian Zelensky signed a ten-year security cooperation agreement in Kyiv.
The fourth message. European countries have stepped up aid to Ukraine. An agreement was reached at an extraordinary EU summit in Brussels, the Belgian capital, on February 1 to provide 50 billion euros in aid to Ukraine. The United Kingdom announced that it will continue to provide 2.5 billion pounds of military aid to Ukraine this year. Germany has pledged to double its ** and economic aid to Ukraine to 8 billion euros by 2024 and plans to allocate 6 billion euros to support Ukrainian refugees in Germany. In addition to providing Ukraine with Caesar artillery and missiles, France has recently given hundreds of sets of AASM and air-to-ground modular**.
Seeing these messages, such a picture came to my mind:In the wind and snow, several people poked their brains at the door of the warm hut. By this time, the warm hut had begun to shake in the wind and snow.
Historically, this part of Europe has been plagued by wars. The Germanic, Celtic and Slavic peoples are known as the three major barbarian peoples of Europe, and the Vikings of Northern Europe are even more famous. It has been calculated that in the 1,000 years before World War II, there were only 15 years of peace in Europe. The most famous, the two world wars, took place in Europe. Therefore, it is argued that Europeans are more belligerent than others. This is largely a fact.
But that's just a fact of the past. After the Second World War, despite the decades-long Cold War between the two camps, and despite the fact that Europe was at the forefront of the Cold War, there were hardly any decent wars on this part of Europe until the outbreak of the Yugoslav Civil War in the nineties of the last century. For a full 80 years, the whole of Europe was bathed in the sunshine of peace. Peace brings prosperity to the economy and a quiet life.
In the quiet of the years, what is born is a peaceful personality.
This peaceful personality is very evident in European leaders. Macron is a typical post-70s generation, he was born in 1977. It had been 32 years since the end of World War II, and even his father probably didn't have a strong memory of the war. Not only Macron, but also the leaders of other European countries have grown up in the honeypot of peace. They are flowers in a greenhouse, naïve in the face of complexity and cowardly in the face of violenceThey love to be reasonable, are not good at fighting, and often even show morality without distinguishing between right and wrong.
Therefore, after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, European countries are extremely embarrassed. In addition to the then British Prime Minister Johnson and the former small countries in Eastern Europe, France's Macron has always played an appeasement role, chasing Putin for three days and two times. Germany began with only 5,000 helmets. In terms of aid to Ukraine, several major European powers, except for the United Kingdom, have always looked ahead and backward, for fear of angering Russia. Even aid is mainly financial, and military aid is mainly dependent on the United States.
But now the situation has changed significantly. The Russian-Ukrainian war is in a state of stalemate, and U.S. aid to Ukraine has been blocked in Congress, and after that, if Trump comes to power, there may be greater variables. In this case, Europe has been forced down a narrow path: if the United States cannot count on it, Europe will have to face the Russian-Ukrainian war alone: either accept an uncertain future in the midst of reluctance, or play a decisive role in the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian said that in the seven or eight decades after World War II, the world enjoyed a "peace dividend", but now it is over. Against this backdrop, it is already difficult for Europe to continue to live in greenhouses.
Will Europe, with its probe in its head, come out of the greenhouse on its own?