by WorldTribune Staff, December 5, 2022
Thirty-seven-year-old Finnish Prime Minister known for her “work hard, play hard” lifestyle delivered up a Donald-Trump-like dose of reality: European nations rely too much on the United States for their defense against Russia.
© Laura Kotila / Finnish Government
“I must be brutally honest with you,” Sanna Marin told the BBC, “Europe isn’t strong enough right now. We would be in trouble without the United States.”
Trump frequently warned NATO allies of the very same thing, and once chided German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies was a strategic weakness.
Trump’s concern wasn’t merely European fragility. It was the undue burden Europe’s multifaceted weaknesses put on the United States.
On Friday, Marin commented in Sydney, Australia, “The United States has given a lot of weapons, a lot of financial aid, a lot of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Europe isn’t strong enough yet.”
The Fins, who share an 800-mile border with Russia, appear to also share a more incisive point of view regarding the risks of European weakness.
Marin said, “For a long time, Europe was building a strategy for Russia… to buy energy from Russia and to close those economic ties, and we thought that this would prevent the war.”
On July 11, 2018, Defense News reported, “President Donald Trump opened his European trip Wednesday by attacking NATO allies for unfairly burdening the United States with their security needs and accusing Germany of being ‘captive to Russia’ because of business interests.
“The comments came at the start of a two-day NATO summit, which White House officials insisted would highlight the strength of the alliance and the importance of cooperation between its members.
“But Trump, who in recent months has frequently complained about what he sees as insufficient defense spending by other alliance members, used his first meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to again criticize the group for relying too much on American might and dollars for their security.”
Two months later, in a speech at the UN, Trump warned Germany it was too reliant on Russia for oil and natural gas.
The response of the German delegation? Laughter. Other Germans are not laughing now as they begin a long cold winter.
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