> In the eventuality that the US is seen as a foreign hostile country by EU members, which seems increasingly likely

First, I absolutely think Trump and Vance's conduct was horrid.

That said, even after the past 2 weeks, European states are hesitant to provide boots on the ground to Ukraine [0][1].

Online (especially on English speaking Reddit and HN) there is strong support to help Ukraine, yet it seems individual members of European states do not wish to truly commit to Ukraine, due to political implications. If even Poland [1] does not want to provide boots on the ground, and Germany and France still want US boots on the ground in order for them to commit to Ukraine [1], then there is a fundamental problem with Ukraine's current posture.

Even if Harris was president today, a similar outcome would have happened.

As I have stated multiple times before, I don't think Europeans on Reddit/HN realize that China is the bigger issue for the US, not Russia (European leadership does recognize this and is trying to accommodate the US as such - look at the UK and Türkiye's commitment to Ukraine over the past decade).

We have no actual defense in depth in the Pacific and have seen this first hand in WW2 with the Japanese invasion of American Philippines and Alaska and much more recently during both the SCS Standoff and Senkaku Diaoyu, but our allies in Europe can provide that for us in Russia. Nor do we expect our European allies except France (because of French Polynesia and Mayotte) to help us in a Indo-Pacific War

If WW3 does happen, there will be no American soldiers in Kirkenes, we will be in the Kinmen Islands

> Unless your argument is that "EU chimps cannot figure out how to do lithography thenselves". Then I'll have a very hard time to take your argument seriously.

Europe (and China, South Korea, Japan, India, etc) absolutely can. Question is over what time period (2 years, 5 years, 10 years?).

There needs to be a united "Europe" but there really isn't. When push comes to shove, European states devolve into bickering with each other because diametrically opposed interests.

If an Obama 2 era Dem staffer like me is ticked off, then you should realize your leadership has burned any goodwill that remains in the American NatSec space. The Koreans and Taiwanese tick us off, but at least we know they will fight if push comes to shove. The only European states with a similar resolve are France, UK, Turkiye, Poland, Netherlands, and maybe Romania. We warned your leadership that an American president like Trump would eventually come, yet your leaders did not listen.

At least your leadership recognizes this now, but has to work overtime because the Trump admin are incompetent at messaging.

It will be better for both the US and our European allies if Germany, Netherlands, etc adopt a France+UK style policy of strategic autonomy. Maybe include Turkiye while you're at it otherwise they will make Balkan and Caucasus Integration impossible

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Also, none of the above sidesteps the fact that 20% of ASML's personnel is in the US, and ASML's light source technology (the primary part used for EUV and DUV) is manufactured and innovated by an JV in San Diego between ASML and Livermore Labs.

[0] - https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/ai...

[1] - https://www.politico.eu/article/europes-leader-donald-trump-...