Opinion | It’s Time for Europe to Stand Up for Itself

The contention that the wealthy, technologically advanced European nations cannot join forces to acquire enough military power to deter or defeat Russia strains credulity. NATO’s 31st and newest member, Finland, and next member, Sweden, have powerful militaries, and Ukraine’s army — far better equipped, trained and battle hardened than it was before 2022 — would also almost certainly come to Europe’s defense in the event of a Russian attack. American military power will also be a reliable supplement. But ultimately, the reality is that Europeans have not only the wherewithal to defend their continent but also a far greater stake in doing so than the United States. Calling for European self-sufficiency is not equivalent to advocating NATO’s abolition. It’s time for Europe to get serious about its own defense.

Sixteen months into the war, Russia has, without a doubt, inflicted massive punishment on Ukraine, destroying nearly $138 billion (as of January) worth of infrastructure alone, according to the Kyiv School of Economics. (As for the human toll, by mid-June 9,083 civilians had been killed and an additional 15,779 injured, according to the United Nations.) Having been to wartime Ukraine three times, including to places close to the eastern and southern fronts, I have seen some of the destruction firsthand. Press photographs and reportage cannot fully capture it.

But Russia has been unable to transform its massive advantage in troops and arms into anything resembling victory. Its difficulties have doubtless been compounded by the more than $46 billion in American military aid that Ukraine has received, along with additional support from NATO and other countries. But the Ukrainian Army thwarted Russia’s opening drive on Kyiv even before American weaponry started arriving in large numbers. Western arms are part of the reason for Russia’s struggles, but so are Ukraine’s strong morale and better generalship.

The rest of Europe, whose resources far exceed Ukraine’s, is in an even stronger position. Compare Europe and Russia on any metric typically used for gauging power, and Europe proves vastly superior. Take their gross domestic products. Last year the European Union’s was $16.6 trillion, and Russia’s was $2.2 trillion. That means the European Union, even without Britain, has an economy more than seven times as large as Russia’s.

What about technology, another component critical to contemporary warfare? Here things get more complicated, as no single statistic works for a neat comparison. So let’s run an unscientific thought experiment. Think of the high-end electronics, luxury automobiles or anything involving artificial intelligence that you’ve used or seen of late. I’d imagine that few, if any, were of Russian provenance. The mixed record of some top-shelf Russian equipment used in Ukraine’s battlefields bears this out. Inspections of destroyed or captured examples of some of Russia’s most advanced rockets, missiles, air defenses and even field radios revealed that they all relied on critical components made in the United States, Europe, Japan or South Korea.