It’s Hard to Keep Up With European Foolery!
No sooner did I post the piece on European idiocy on Greenland did I see this, a European apparatchik amping the foolery to eleven:
But until, I dunno, a minute ago you were freaked that the US was not committing enough to European defense against the Russians. Now, if we do something that will actually help you against the Russians, you will make it almost impossible to assist you against the Russians.
Makes total sense!
Cutting of their nose to spite their face doesn’t even cut it. Cutting off their goolies to spite their future is more like it. Generously assuming they actually have goolies, of course.
Then no sooner did I recover from the laughing fit caused by that post, I see this:
In other words, stationing troops where they have no risk of getting shot and no ability to shoot at the Russians to deter them. Stunning and brave! That’ll teach them Rooskies!
And this:
With what army, Fritz? And when? 2035? 2045? Because you sure ain’t up to it now.
These are not serious people. Yet they take themselves oh-so-seriously, and are deeply offended when we don’t.
‘Germany will accept responsibility for the security of Ukraine and for the continent as a whole.’
I’ve seen this film before!
Twice!!
Didn’t work out so well for anyone.
by Ex-Global Super-Regulator on Lunch Break on Jan 7, 2026 at 1:12 am
Beyond pathetic
Boots on the ground in Ukraine? My son is serving in Lebanon, supposedly in a security force to allow the Lebanese Army the room to deal with Hezbollah. Which the LA has already failed.
FFS don’t send his boots to Ukraine.
Who cares who is sovereign in Greenland? Are we at risk of a horde of eskimos? As for the alleged mineral resources, it takes some pretty expensive and innovative technology to get them out, and Denmark isn’t going to do that with their windmills.
by philip on Jan 7, 2026 at 4:54 pm
I saw a wonderful joke recently. You know how Canadians like to wring their hands about how all their land really belongs to the indigenous people? The US should just buy it cheaply from the indigenous people. USA! USA! USA!
Mind you, the joker didn’t say what would happen if China bought Australia from its indigenous people. Or NZ. Or … Come to think of it, buying all of South Africa from the Bushmen would probably cost next to nothing: you could expel all the Bantu and enjoy all those minerals. This idea has legs.
Maybe that’s how to handle Venezuela: toss a few billion to the surviving tribesmen and claim that you chaps thereby own it all. All you need do is invent some entirely spurious reasoning to prove that this logic can’t possibly be applied to the indigenous people of the USA. That’s where being a nation well supplied with shyster lawyers would come in handy.
P.S. Can it be true that Greenland was uninhabited when the Vikings pitched up? If so the Danes/Norwegians have a decent claim to be the indigenous people and therefore the rightful owners in spite of superficial chatter about their being colonists.
by dearieme on Jan 8, 2026 at 6:02 am
dearieme
Can it be true that Greenland was uninhabited when the Vikings pitched up?
possibly. eskimos Inuit etc were / nomadic so they might have been away at the time.
Same goes for bushmen, Kurds, bedouin, who don’t have a territorial state as a consequence.
by philip on Jan 8, 2026 at 3:40 pm
Greenlanders should be offered a choice: Join the US; Join Canada; Become independent, and honor the military agreements already in place with the US. –jm
by J Maslanik on Jan 8, 2026 at 3:45 pm
From my long ago dating days I remember my policy that if a lady wasn’t interested, instead of being a persistent pest, to go and apply my resources elsewhere. Or as the lady would put it, “Doesn’t he understand the meaning of the word, No?”
by Michael van der Riet on Jan 8, 2026 at 7:14 pm
” a minute ago you were freaked that the US was not committing enough to European defense against the Russians”
Where does this American fantasy come from, that in Europe we *need* the US to defend our homelands? Russia is advancing at *less* than a snail’s pace in Ukraine, we’ll be fine.
I tell you what, Prof, if America is so upset about the imbalance in defence spending, do please pack up your shit and go home. We don’t mind. Between the rest of us, we can field 5 aircraft carriers, we’re far from defenceless.
(Yes, our magazine depth is pretty poor now, but we’re working on it, and yes, 5 carriers is pitiful by American standards, but it’s more than any other group has, so that’s enough, provided that the Americans haven’t decided on a policy of lebensraum… right? …right?).
by HibernoFrog on Jan 9, 2026 at 3:13 am
“You ungrateful bastards” “You haven’t thanked us enough” blah blah
What Hiberno said. With bells on.
by David Mercer on Jan 9, 2026 at 4:52 am
How do aircraft carriers help Western Europe to defend itself from Russia? Drones might be more to the point. And soldiers to operate them.
Unless you are blasting at a special case like Venezuela, carriers may well be obsolescent. It was notable that it wasn’t carrier-based aircraft that the US used in its attack on Iran.
P.S. Am I the only person to wonder why Russia’s promise to defend Venezuela didn’t seem to include having a couple of nuclear hunter-killer submarines in the Caribbean? Or were they there and Russia was scared to use them? Or perhaps Russia understood what was happening too late?
by dearieme on Jan 9, 2026 at 4:55 am
@dearieme:
Sigh. It was just a crude measure of military capability. If we have 5 carriers and Russia has 1 (that hasn’t actually seen service in almost a decade), it seems likely we’d outperform them in other areas too.
Fair point about drones, but by the time Russia is in any position to threaten us with those, we will have our own in place.
Except Ireland, which continues to suck. Sorry about that – I’ve tried telling people that this is a bad position to be in, but they just don’t see it…
by HibernoFrog on Jan 9, 2026 at 8:30 am
History isnt kind to the idea of Germany securing Europe. Thats why there’s NATO, in part, to keep the Germans DOWN, the Americans IN. Both sides, EU and US are playing with fire, a US departure would bring an aggressive war by Russia in a decade. Don’t let Ukraine fool you, it’d be “no more Mr. Nice Guy by Putin’s descendants
by The Pilot on Jan 9, 2026 at 6:41 pm