Can Europe Defend Itself Without US Military Support?

Europe could need 300k more troops and an annual defence spending hike of at least €300 billion in the short term to defend itself… Europe’s increased defense spending may please the US and enrich its defense industry, but it risks militarization without genuine autonomy, reinforcing transatlantic dependence rather than fostering European self-sufficiency. In an unexpected turn of events, a celebratory atmosphere prevailed at this year’s NATO summit. “You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done. Europe is going to pay in a big way,” Secretary General Mark Rutte told Trump in a private message, which the…