The EU has a much larger GDP and a significantly higher defense budget than Russia (about 457 billion USD vs. 146 billion USD in 2024). While its industry is more fragmented, it can be rapidly scaled up when needed as demonstrated in Ukraine. and the comparison to russia also lacks because the EU doesn’t consider the current situation as active war. However, compared to the US and China, the EU still lags behind their global projections. Although Russia has increased its arms production in recent years, it is suffering from sanctions and material losses in the Ukraine conflict, which limits its military capabilities. Overall, the EU is economically and industrially stronger than Russia, but still trails the US and China in a global comparison. Since there is a noticable shift of power in the world the EU started to focus more on China and India as trading partners and leave the US who traditionally were European allies.
The EU has a much larger GDP and a significantly higher defense budget than Russia (about 457 billion USD vs. 146 billion USD in 2024)
The EU is far more financialized, in terms of gross industrial output the EU is behind the Russian Federation. This is a holdover from their soviet legacy. In terms of real production, Russia succeeds, despite lower GDP, because money stretches much farther in Russia. 1 million USD worth of Russian goods gets you a lot more than 1 million USD in European goods, to make things simple.
Europe could make up the gap, but it is so dominated by finance capital and energy dependency that this makes it incredibly difficult without adopting socialism.
Overall, the EU is economically and industrially stronger than Russia
This is false. The EU is financially stronger than Russia, largely thanks to modern neoimperialism in Africa, but industrially is far behind.
Since there is a noticable shift of power in the world the EU started to focus more on China and India as trading partners and leave the US who traditionally were European allies.
Correct, the EU is being demoted from imperial vassal to periphery, and since it would take devastating losses in open conflict with a major power without US backing it has to seek other allies.
The Netherlands colonized half the world despite being smaller than Mongolia - Venice was able to stand up to countries like the ottoman empire despite being only a single city.
Financialization isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing either.
The EU has a much larger GDP and a significantly higher defense budget than Russia (about 457 billion USD vs. 146 billion USD in 2024). While its industry is more fragmented, it can be rapidly scaled up when needed as demonstrated in Ukraine. and the comparison to russia also lacks because the EU doesn’t consider the current situation as active war. However, compared to the US and China, the EU still lags behind their global projections. Although Russia has increased its arms production in recent years, it is suffering from sanctions and material losses in the Ukraine conflict, which limits its military capabilities. Overall, the EU is economically and industrially stronger than Russia, but still trails the US and China in a global comparison. Since there is a noticable shift of power in the world the EU started to focus more on China and India as trading partners and leave the US who traditionally were European allies.
The EU is far more financialized, in terms of gross industrial output the EU is behind the Russian Federation. This is a holdover from their soviet legacy. In terms of real production, Russia succeeds, despite lower GDP, because money stretches much farther in Russia. 1 million USD worth of Russian goods gets you a lot more than 1 million USD in European goods, to make things simple.
Europe could make up the gap, but it is so dominated by finance capital and energy dependency that this makes it incredibly difficult without adopting socialism.
This is false. The EU is financially stronger than Russia, largely thanks to modern neoimperialism in Africa, but industrially is far behind.
Correct, the EU is being demoted from imperial vassal to periphery, and since it would take devastating losses in open conflict with a major power without US backing it has to seek other allies.
The Netherlands colonized half the world despite being smaller than Mongolia - Venice was able to stand up to countries like the ottoman empire despite being only a single city.
Financialization isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing either.