The report is absolutely scathing. Some choice quotes:
But when the next crisis came, both the US and the governments of Europe fell back on old models of alliance leadership. Europe, as EU high representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell loudly lamented prior to Russia’s invasion, is not really at the table when it comes to dealing with the Russia-Ukraine crisis. It has instead embarked on a process of vassalisation.
But “alone” had a very specific meaning for Scholz. He was unwilling to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine unless the US also sent its own main battle tank, the M1 Abrams. It was not enough that other partners would send tanks or that the US might send other weapons. Like a scared child in a room full of strangers, Germany felt alone if Uncle Sam was not holding its hand.
Europeans’ lack of agency in the Russia-Ukraine crisis stems from this growing power imbalance in the Western alliance. Under the Biden administration, the US has become ever more willing to exercise this growing influence.
I live in Latinamerica and I have never seen any shit made in Europe except useless fancy shit, maybe you build some engine part or something? I wouldn’t dare to say the world is dependent on European industry, though, now China, we sure are dependent to them.
ASML
Ok, that’s true, but at the same time it’s not like it’s the only one and also it’s one thing. If we wouldn’t get couped every 5 second we could create a replacement.
We build the machines that you, and China, use to build stuff. We also make things which go into things that go into things. We build the measuring systems you use to calibrate measuring systems. You can also buy whole power plants, turn-key. We bore all your tunnels, build all your gondola systems and probably build your planes, and also trains (The ranking is Alstrom, the Chinese, then Stadler). We build pneumatic tube systems for your hospitals and produce the forceps your surgeons use.
We also do a lot of consumer stuff but I don’t know how popular it is outside of Europe. But I’d be surprised if you can’t find e.g. Bosch food processors all over the world. Or Siemens light bulbs. Have you ever used a BIC pen or lighter (or, of all things, surfboards yes they produce surfboards). Hardly “fancy shit”.
And that’s not including stuff produced all over the world by European companies, if e.g. BASF were to vanish over night every single economy in the world would collapse.
kkkkkkkk
What, surprised? They’ve been producing them for ages.
Estadunidense acha que ninguém conhece liquidificador. Gringo, please, leia um livro kkkkkk
Quê? Surpreso?
I’m not American, Bosch isn’t American, and no I don’t think noone else produces kitchen appliances, much less knows what they are. Your mind must’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere.
What I did assume from your response is that you only knew Bosch from car parts, angle grinders and electrical drills, or something. But truth be told they produce about everything as long as it uses electricity.
Mate, you have to be a bit too gringo to think that whatever your conglomerates like Bosch produce can’t be produced without exporting all the wealth to the “Global North” as you people call it. Even Bosch itself has factories in China to supplement the stagnating production in your glorified peninsula. And no, we don’t need your posh “food processor” as if cheap and good mixers haven’t been commonplace everywhere for the last 50 years or so. Truth is “you” (as you put it) produce very little to the world, it is all extracted and produced abroad, be it in Asia, Africa or America (the continent), and then you get to claim glory because your patented circuit-printing facilities got to do the very last bit.
Then “you” (as you put it) try to shove these inferior and expensive products down the collective throat of the rest of the world. And then you proclaim to the world of slaves “how good we are, to civilise those barbarians”. Do you really believe us to be so stupid that we couldn’t replicate and improve your circuit boards and electronics without your nonsensical patent laws and foreign meddling? How many Chinas surpassing the USAurope do you need to call your exceptionalism into question? I have never seen a single Bosch appliance and European products are for the most part luxury goods or patent hogs. Oh no, how will I survive with my Asian imports and local production without the help of those smart Euros? All you people do is import, and you pretend that’s a good thing.
But please, educate me about the third world reliance on your tiny continent.
Fine. Convince whatever country you’re in to pass a law forbidding importing anything from highly developed nations. If you don’t want our stuff, your choice. If you don’t want to sell your stuff, also your choice. Just stop trading, I don’t care.
…what you’re going to see happening is your own high-tech sector completely folding, and you then spending the next 50 year spending tons of resources on figuring out how to build things that you can buy off the shelf from Europe, the US, Japan, South Korea, etc.
And that’d be a shame because we’d like to see you on eye level, see you carve out your own areas of excellence where you trump us. But if you don’t want to, well, we won’t force you. Because unlike Seppos we actually learned from history.
lmao like anybody bothers buying that crap anyways. Y’all think too highly of your overpriced contraband, and you shouldn’t include Japan and South Korea in the mix as they generally are not considered part of Europe and actually produce some very good and affordable products.
Oh sure, just waiting for that referendum to block all exports of crops, mineral resources and fossil fuels to the gringolands. As we all know, we all just democratically voted for our national industries to be privatised. I’m sure all the gringo companies that depend on it are gonna just democratically fold and leave.
Also I’m no fan of the Stadians, but I don’t think it is wise to have such disdain for the “Seppos” who are responsible for maintaining whatever semblance of hegemony Europe still keeps. If said referendum comes, you’ll have to rely on them to do democratic interventions to keep your democratically elected privatised industries to fuel your never-ending consumption of imports. You people can’t even win a war outside of Europe without their support anymore.
BTW, Argentina invented the ballpoint pen and Bics are produced either in Argentina or Brasil, lol.
John J. Loud patented it in 1888, the man was American. Those never took off, though, manufacturing wasn’t there yet it took 50 years so the second name you see listed as inventor is László Bíró, Hungarian… who fled to Argentina. 10 years after starting to produce his pens. Maybe read up on shit before you base your jingoism on it. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that Che is from Angola.
If you wonder how hard it is to make ballpoint pens: Very. It took China until 2017 to nail the requirements – it’s not that the concept is hard, but manufacturing at the required precision at scale is anything but easy.
When it comes to production I have no idea where you got Argentina from, BIC’s South American factories are in Brasil: Stationary, Lighters and Shavers in Manaus, Stationary in Rio.
Not actually sure whether they producing their own balls but they definitely produce their own razor blades. I mainly brought Bic up as an very good example of unfancy European engineering: Yes, you can get cheaper stuff, but you’re probably going to haul curses at it at some point in time, and end up spending more money because buying cheap is more expensive than buying once.
Worse, you could be buying Gillette or Wilkinson who only seem to produce good ole fashioned safety razor blades to make people think safety razors suck so they can sell more overpriced cartridge stuff. My Bic blades are 11ct a piece, I could use a fresh one every shave and still spend less than what those want for their seven-blade cartridges. That’s even true if you buy the cream of the cream, Japanese “let’s make the best possible product, not care about price” blades: Feather. 29ct a piece.