Dutch Parliament opposed to Von der Leyen's €800 billion European defense plan
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I suppose this is karma for me getting too excited about European unity getting a massive boost as a silver lining to the state of the world. My own country is joining Hungary in attempting to sabotage it.
This is not the time to make an ideological show to your populist national electorate. If this doesn't get implemented properly and the newfound unity is not credible, the continent and the EU will be faced with war. Which, if that on its own is not convincing enough, also tends to be somewhat suboptimal for fiscal stability and the economy.
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Nu pas? Anyway it's still America first, Netherlands second.
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Don't worry, you didn't have any credibility to begin with.
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Thank you. I don't understand why a farmer's union aligned with Israel would be against defence spending though. Very weird.
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They're also sort of trying to be a PVV light. It's all very confused.
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I disagree with automatically assuming Russia will be stupid enough to actually attack the EU, so I agree with your comment.
It may be strategically smart to assume so anyway, but I still find it hard to believe Russia would actually wage war against the EU: with their midget economy they'll lose, unless they're willing to use nuclear weapons, and then they lose as well.
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One caused by counting on internal division in the EU, the probability of which increases when we fail to have a unified response right now. Basically just gambling that countries like the Netherlands won't be willing to defend, e.g., a Baltic country. Russia could certainly beat the militaries of small Baltic states one by one, if it is breaking even with Ukraine. No joint response would mean selling out member states and effectively disabling the whole concept of the EU. Joint response would mean war for everyone.
I would prefer a future that minimises the probability of this gamble being made, and nobody gets invaded.
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It's not our government this time, it's parliament. The government parties have a majority in that, obviously.
The insane thing is that the parties that form the governement opposed their own prime minister, that's what makes this extra crazy.
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an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power
Article 42 leaves no space for selling out.
The promise of the EU is mutual support while remaining independent. There are enough citizens who don't want to become another united states. With too much push for unity, there is a risk that the EU breaks apart.
The joint investment response is not necessary since the EU is stronger than Russia. Given van der Leyen's vaccine history, there is a big risk that the money will not be spent wisely.
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And its leader was an Israeli colonist on the West Bank 🥳
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Furious about this, they should be ashamed of themselves. I know I am ashamed to say I am Dutch
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It needs to be bigger.
The only language Russians understand is abject terror.
We need literal drone swarms above the Kremlin 24/7, and make it clear they can't do anything to stop them.
And give storm shadows and taurus to Ukraine and just let them choose their targets.
We can offer a ceasefire to the rubble.
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They don't work like that.
They turn a few more far-right governments like Hungary, then incite problems in the baltics.
The only way to stop Russia is to terrorize them until they finally understand how worthless they are.
They don't live in a world of reason, they believe they have the ultimate superpower of all: being able to tank more suffering than people who aren't morons who always hurt themselves.
