English: A Bully Free Zone sign – School in Berea, Ohio (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Actually the writers of that Carnegie Europe article are right.

Whilst it is true as Dr Alf says, that Europe is a collection of nation states and that Germany does not want to strut about openly on the world stage, none of them will be able to maintain this position for much longer.

We have the issue of resurgent Russian military power and the impending annexation of the Arctic shelf adjacent to the Russian coastline.

Russia has reopened its Arctic bases and has enough fully cloaked bombers and fighters to take most of Europe off the map even without its space based weapons.

Europe is like a small boy at school being subjected to bullying but being defended some of the time by an older boy who is about to leave school and go to University.

The day that happens the bullied child will have to learn to fight or find some way to stop the bully.

Europe dithers and does nothing about this about energy or about a robust response to Islamic fundamentalism.

Rather than get its own people to become more productive and export more to create the funding for enlarged forces and safer energy supplies, it buries its head in the sand.

Things will have to change because the Americans, like that older boy, will not be around forever or be willing forever to go on protecting Europe even as a means to protecting themselves. .

John Gelmini