Donald Trump’s declaration at the NATO summit that the U.S. had returned to war with Iran didn’t lead to the usual gasping allies or perplexed officials.
If anything, it cemented Europe’s increasing reliance on itself.
As motorcades sped out of Ankara’s presidential place and down the barricaded streets ringing the Turkish capital on Wednesday, a half-dozen European officials said the ceasefire’s end only stiffened their resolve to be less dependent on the American militarily and stand alone.
“After seeing what’s happening in Iran and Ukraine, we first of all, have to build our own military might, and then everybody will respect us: Americans, Russians, Iranians or Chinese,” said a European official. “The more muscles you have, the less political anger you show.”
The sanctions didn’t stop Russia, and the Maginot Line didn’t stop Germany. No system is perfect, but I prefer not to have countries invest in weapons if possible.
You could argue that nuclear weapons managed to deter a third world war, but they also created a very tangible risk of wiping out humanity. I’m not sure I like that trade-off.
Finally, keep in mind that the full effect of the sanctions hasn’t manifested yet. It’ll be a long, long time before Russia recovers from this war, and it’ll be a reminder for all wannabe warmongers of the consequences of invading another countries for quite a while.
France declared war on Germany, after Germany invaded Poland. In that sense the Maginot line actually worked to deter Germany from invading France.
This is not true. The maginot line was easily avoided by the German and any war historian will tell you that it was a stupid and stupidly expensive idea. In no way it was a threat to the German invasion.