conflict
Europeans Aren’t Concerned About Russian Bear Invading Continent After Ukraine

From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The foreign policy blob in Washington, D.C., would have us believe that Vladimir Putin is Adolf Hitler 2.0 and must be stopped before he rolls over the rest of Europe. It is an intellectually lazy argument.
In the first place, Russia has struggled in its fight with Ukraine—a small nation with one-fourth Russia’s population and far fewer resources. How would Mother Russia fare against the combined firepower of NATO? Likely not so hot: Europe’s economy is six times larger than Russia’s. Likewise, the population advantage of Europe stands three-to-one over Russia.
Aside from Russia’s vast nuclear weapons stockpiles, it is no match for Europe.
Putin knows he would be crushed in a head-to-head with NATO and has repeatedly made clear that he has no interest in going to war with any NATO country, including Poland.
Secondly, if Europe was seriously under threat from the Russian bear, you might think that Europeans themselves would be more alarmed. They don’t seem to be. In fact, across nearly every threat measured by the Munich Security Council, trends show a downward ebb among Europeans. To most, Russia ranks as a threat below radical Islamic terrorism and mass migration. The Germans are more worried about cyber attacks than Putin; to the French, racism is more worrisome.
Aren’t these the very people America is spending $185 billion in Ukraine to protect from Russian expansionism?
Across the European continent, the United States maintains 100,000 troops on 185 major military bases and 78 minor sites (minor being defined as less than 10 acres or $10 million). Taken altogether, American forward operating bases in Europe sprawl over 265,000 acres with an estimated value of $95.5 billion. When one examines the Department of Defense’s annual budget, protecting Europe is America’s largest yearly expenditure—and that’s before Ukraine supplemental funding is added to the tally.
Yet the average resident of Berlin is likely more worried about his email getting hacked than he frets about the Kremlin rolling tanks through Deutschland.
Europe was the world’s center for combat power from roughly 1400 until 1945. No more. Even the larger armies of NATO are struggling to maintain effective combat power. The British Army cannot sustain a complete expeditionary armored brigade. At 23 years old, the Charles de Gaulle, France’s flagship and sole aircraft carrier, is reaching the end of its effective lifespan but sea trials are not expected to begin for its replacement until 2036.
The French have less than 90 heavy artillery pieces—Russia is losing more each month fighting Ukraine. Reporting in October 2022 found that Germany only had enough ammunition for two days of war, far below the NATO 30-day minimum. In 2022 NATO exercises, none of the Bundeswehr’s 18 new Puma infantry fighting vehicles were able to complete the drill.
Ukraine has revealed many of NATO’s weakness. These led a professor of war studies at the University of Warwick, Anthony King, to remark that Europe has “systematically demilitarized itself because it didn’t need to spend the money. They have basically gone to sleep.”
That ambivalence toward defense comes across in another recent survey of Europeans. Sixty percent of Italians, 47% of Germans and 40% of the French are in favor of cutting off arms shipments to Ukraine. Across Europe, 60% think that Ukraine will be an economic burden. Among the French, Spanish and Italians, more than 40% either don’t know or don’t care who wins the war in Ukraine.
Perhaps America’s security blanket for Europe has been too heavy and we have indeed lulled the continent into a stupor. Or maybe Europeans are correct in their assessment of Putin—that his invasion of Ukraine is not a precursor to the reassembly of the U.S.S.R.
In either case, more American taxpayers are questioning the D.C. logic that demands ever-increasing blank checks for a war with no end in sight.
Morgan Murphy is a former DoD press secretary, national security adviser in the U.S. Senate, a veteran of Afghanistan.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Featured image credit: (Screen Capture/CSPAN)
conflict
Europe moves to broker Ukraine peace deal, seeks Trump’s backing

MxM News
Quick Hit:
The United Kingdom, France, and Ukraine are working on a ceasefire proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine war, aiming to present the plan to President Donald Trump. The move follows a tense Oval Office meeting that has strained U.S.-Ukraine relations.
Key Details:
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are leading efforts to mediate a Ukraine peace deal, with Italy also signaling interest.
- The plan involves a ceasefire, European-led security guarantees, and a “coalition of the willing” to stabilize Ukraine post-conflict.
- Trump remains skeptical of long-term U.S. security commitments, making European efforts critical to any peace deal’s success.
Diving Deeper:
Following an explosive Oval Office exchange between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European leaders have intensified their efforts to mediate an end to the war in Ukraine. The U.K. and France have taken the lead in drafting a ceasefire plan, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasizing that a “coalition of the willing” must act swiftly to bring an end to the bloody three-year conflict.
In a Sunday interview with the BBC, Starmer confirmed that the U.K., France, and Ukraine had agreed to begin formal negotiations on a peace plan, which they would later present to Washington. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed interest in playing a role, hinting at a broader European effort to push for a settlement.
However, Europe’s diplomatic push faces major obstacles. The proposal reportedly includes European peacekeeping troops in Ukraine—something Russia has flatly rejected. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the idea “unacceptable,” accusing European nations, particularly France and the U.K., of fueling the war instead of ending it.
Further complicating matters, Starmer stressed that the plan should include a U.S. security guarantee for Ukraine—an idea Trump has repeatedly dismissed. At his first Cabinet meeting, Trump made it clear that Europe should take the lead, stating, “I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. We’re going to have Europe do that.”
Zelensky’s insistence on American security commitments during Friday’s meeting reportedly led to the breakdown in talks, with Trump removing him from the White House and stating that the Ukrainian leader “can come back when he is ready for peace.” In response, European officials rallied around Zelensky, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock calling the White House exchange “horrifying” and the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, suggesting that the “free world needs a new leader.”
While Europe’s push for a peace plan may help Zelensky demonstrate openness to negotiations, its chances of success remain uncertain. Without Trump’s backing or Russian agreement, the proposal risks becoming another diplomatic exercise with little impact on the battlefield. Furthermore, if European nations wish to replace the U.S. as Ukraine’s primary security guarantor, they will need to significantly increase their defense spending—something unlikely given their entrenched welfare commitments.
For now, European leaders appear eager to test Trump’s willingness to engage in peace efforts on their terms. Whether he accepts their proposal, or insists on his own approach, could define the next phase of the war.
conflict
Is Ukraine War a Money-Sucking Charade?

By John Leake
This morning I perused the Getty Archive for images of the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43) and the Battle of Kursk (1943) — two of the biggest between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia. The archive contains thousands of images of men in combat, bombed out wreckage, and dead soldiers.
I then did a webs search for Battle of Kursk 2024 and got a few images of a solitary howitzer.
The most vivid footage I have seen of the current war in Ukraine has been taken from killer drones in the act of killing individual soldiers or small groups of soldiers in the field. However, I’ve still not seen anything even remotely approximating the panoramic views of destruction that were captured by film cameras at Stalingrad in 1942-1943.
Pondering this reminded me of an old friend who specializes as a leasing agent for warehousing facilities near major international airports. In early 2022, she got a call from a man who claimed his company was a Pentagon contractor in the business of transporting military supplies from the United States to Ukraine. He was seeking a large warehouse adjacent to an east coast international airport, preferably around Baltimore. When she asked him about the leasing term he wanted, he replied without hesitation, “ten years.”
“Ten years?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes, ten years.”
Another thing that struck me as incomprehensibly strange during the Biden years was the extraordinary confidence and bravado about the prospect of escalating war with Russia. The EXACT same people who had expressed mortal terror about COVID-19—which posed zero risk to the young and healthy—expressed zero fear about the prospect, however remote, of an eventual nuclear exchange with Russia.
A dear (and now former) friend in Austria who has earned a tidy living as a lobbyist had, between March 2020 and February 2022, repeatedly expressed his opinion that Covid lockdowns and compulsory vaccination were necessary to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
However, in February 2022, he told me that he and his family were willing “to lose everything to defend Europe against Russia.” How to reconcile his terror of COVID-19 with his extraordinary sang-froid about escalating with Russia instead of seeking a neutrality deal for Ukraine similar to that of Austria in 1955?
Is it possible that globalists like my ex friend aren’t worried about escalation because they believe the war in Ukraine is a relatively contained affair in the eastern provinces that is being sustained primarily to suck money out of western treasuries, especially the U.S.?
Where exactly have all of the money and weapons gone? Elon Musk’s DOGE has given us glimpses into where U.S. taxpayer money may go when no one is watching. I wonder if he can put some scrutiny on the tens of billions that have purportedly gone to Kiev.
Another little clue is evidence that much of Ukraine’s wealthy elite has left the country and is partying in Switzerland and the South of France. The French paper Le Monde published a report about the fun they are having in France (see Ukrainian oligarchs’ secret escape to the French Riviera).
Please note that I am NOT declaring anything; I am merely asking questions. Five years after the COVID-19 debacle, it’s become clear that Western governments and their mainstream media propaganda organs told hundreds of massive lies to their citizenries. As soon as the Covid Crisis showed major signs of abating in the winter of 2022, the EXACT SAME guys and girls lurched us into the Ukraine Crisis, and the money floodgates opened yet again, just as they had in March 2020.
Were the producers of the The Wizard of Oz and The Matrix telling us something about the way the world works in the era of photographic and electronic representations of reality?
Invite your friends and earn rewards
-
National2 days ago
War against the US? Chrystia Freeland says Canada, allies need to build ‘New World Order’ to combat Trump
-
Opinion2 days ago
Liberal leadership race guarantees Canadian voters will be guided by a clown show for a while yet
-
Business2 days ago
Taxpayers launching court fight against CBC transparency
-
Courageous Discourse1 day ago
Zelensky Met with Dems Before He Met President Trump
-
Business2 days ago
Elon Musk: ‘I’m getting a lot of death threats’ due to DOGE
-
Crime2 days ago
Could the UK’s ‘Grooming Gangs’ operate in Canada?
-
Alberta2 days ago
Can Trump Revive The Keystone Pipeline?
-
Alberta2 days ago
Alberta Coordinating law enforcement to fight fentanyl