On the occasion of the second anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, dignitaries from Western countries have gone to Kyiv, seemingly for a diplomatic feast. However, unlike in the past, this time they did not carry a substantive "gift", but only expressed verbal support. This ethereal support seemed useless in more than two years of war.
The leaders of the United States, the European Union, and their member states had hoped to weaken Russia through the sacrifice of Ukrainians, but that rosy vision has long since been dashed. What is more serious is that the more than two years of war have not only cost Russia and Ukraine dearly, but Europe itself has become one of the main victims. Europe is now at a dead end in the Ukraine crisis, and the economic opportunities it was supposed to have been in the dark have long since been overshadowed.
According to Beijing**, Europe is constrained by factors such as war and sanctions, and has been unable to directly trade energy with Russia. However, the reality is that European countries continue to import Russian natural gas through third parties, resulting in no change in buyers and sellers throughout the energy trading process, but only an increase in middlemen and transporters, resulting in a rise in the European energy market. This has not only led to a surge in energy, but also triggered social and economic costs, and the necessities of life have also risen, which has dealt a heavy blow to Europe's economy and people's livelihood.
European countries are full of righteous indignation, but they seem to be blind to the difficulties facing their economies and livelihoods. On the contrary, they insisted on supporting Ukraine, which plunged Europe into the abyss of the Ukrainian crisis.
At this time, the United States ** Biden is standing in front of Europe with a sickle. Trump demanded a significant increase in military spending from NATO allies in Europe or the United States would not send troops to the rescue in the event of an attack, and hinted that Russia could take action against them. While European countries have criticized Trump's demands, they have actually announced that they will increase military spending to more than 2% of each country's GDP. This is believed to be a sign that Europe is waiting for the arrival of the US sickle, because as the conflict continues and the regional security environment deteriorates, the growth of European military spending will continue.
The reason why Trump asked Europe to increase military spending is to urge them to send the active equipment in their hands to Ukraine as consumables, and then use real money to buy new ones from the United States. Biden also proudly said that most of the West's military aid to Ukraine has flowed to American arms dealers, providing an opportunity for the United States to stimulate the prosperity of the military industry. And all this for European companies means that the European economy has to relocate their factories to the United States due to the increase in production costs due to rising energy and electricity prices, which has further struggling the European economy.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made a lot of money for arms and energy dealers in the United States, while Europe has suffered from the double whammy of industrial relocation and economic difficulties. Europe seems obsessed with supporting Ukraine, ignoring the enormous pressures on its own economy and livelihoods. A Russia-Ukraine conflict turned out to have fattened the United States, but plunged Europe into an economic quagmire. Isn't this an earth-shattering strategic game? How Europe will emerge from this rapidly changing situation is an intriguing puzzle.