The world governed by sheer strength, force and power will be a world short-lived. From the Central European perspective the dread is twofold – we are stuck between the Machtpolitik of global powers and those that cannot deliver on the defence of the liberal world they preach.
Machtpolitiks or Trump-Politik as Julian Lindley-French calls it in his brilliantly merciless commentary, is unaffordable.
Last year the United States (US) debt interest overcame its military spending. Nial Ferguson called this moment in the history of great powers the ‘Ferguson’s Law’, marking a point of no return for most historical powers that spend more on paying off debts than on defence. And yet, in our part of the world, military tools are a must-have.
From Helsinki, Tallinn to Warsaw and a few others on NATO’s east, we all build up militarily too. But we undertake this effort for the sake of a rules-based world order for equally practical reasons – to make our security affordable. And then there are many free-riders in Europe who just do not walk the talk when it comes to common security.
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