Jeremy Cliffe
@jeremycliffe.bsky.social
Editorial Director and Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations (@ecfr.eu)
https://ecfr.eu/profile/jeremy-cliffe/
https://ecfr.eu/profile/jeremy-cliffe/
I’m with you there. But I don’t see European governments using that time well at all. Where is the EU-wide ambition? The joint initiatives? The defence answer to Airbus? Instead it’s the same old fragmentation, soothed by the belief that lip-service to 5% will keep the old American protector sweet.
November 10, 2025 at 9:21 PM
I’m with you there. But I don’t see European governments using that time well at all. Where is the EU-wide ambition? The joint initiatives? The defence answer to Airbus? Instead it’s the same old fragmentation, soothed by the belief that lip-service to 5% will keep the old American protector sweet.
This was Merkel’s defence of NordStream 2! Buying time to disengage from an unreliable partner, but too busy humouring said partner to actually actually use the time gained. (An analogy which, if I’m
not mistaken, makes Sanchez a latter-day Habeck).
not mistaken, makes Sanchez a latter-day Habeck).
November 10, 2025 at 9:07 PM
This was Merkel’s defence of NordStream 2! Buying time to disengage from an unreliable partner, but too busy humouring said partner to actually actually use the time gained. (An analogy which, if I’m
not mistaken, makes Sanchez a latter-day Habeck).
not mistaken, makes Sanchez a latter-day Habeck).
Why on earth should the primary goal be “keeping” Trump engaged in Europe? As opposed to building European military-industrial sovereignty?
The sort of entrenched European vassalage you’re advocating will hurt Spain a lot less than the eastern flank states actually exposed to Russia.
The sort of entrenched European vassalage you’re advocating will hurt Spain a lot less than the eastern flank states actually exposed to Russia.
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Why on earth should the primary goal be “keeping” Trump engaged in Europe? As opposed to building European military-industrial sovereignty?
The sort of entrenched European vassalage you’re advocating will hurt Spain a lot less than the eastern flank states actually exposed to Russia.
The sort of entrenched European vassalage you’re advocating will hurt Spain a lot less than the eastern flank states actually exposed to Russia.
I hope you’re right. But I rather fear that it won’t be honest Spain, but rather the governments that blithely signed up to 5% with no intention whatsoever to deliver it, that will undermine NATO in the long-term.
November 10, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I hope you’re right. But I rather fear that it won’t be honest Spain, but rather the governments that blithely signed up to 5% with no intention whatsoever to deliver it, that will undermine NATO in the long-term.
I fundamentally disagree on 5%, a fantastical Trumpian goal that is purely designed to fill the order books of American defence firms.
By contrast, Sanchez has proposed a reality-based goal: smaller sums, spent together, in ways increasing European military-industrial sovereignty.
By contrast, Sanchez has proposed a reality-based goal: smaller sums, spent together, in ways increasing European military-industrial sovereignty.
November 10, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I fundamentally disagree on 5%, a fantastical Trumpian goal that is purely designed to fill the order books of American defence firms.
By contrast, Sanchez has proposed a reality-based goal: smaller sums, spent together, in ways increasing European military-industrial sovereignty.
By contrast, Sanchez has proposed a reality-based goal: smaller sums, spent together, in ways increasing European military-industrial sovereignty.
In a world where the West 1/ refuses to treat innocent Gazans as it does innocent Ukrainians, 2/ preaches climate & progress at poorer countries while cutting aid, Sanchez is a rare beacon of consistency. I don't like his China policy. But nothing serves Beijing more than the hypocrisies he opposes.
November 10, 2025 at 7:46 PM
In a world where the West 1/ refuses to treat innocent Gazans as it does innocent Ukrainians, 2/ preaches climate & progress at poorer countries while cutting aid, Sanchez is a rare beacon of consistency. I don't like his China policy. But nothing serves Beijing more than the hypocrisies he opposes.
Where did Unamuno say that?
November 10, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Where did Unamuno say that?
What if... it wasn't the short-20th-century that ended in 1989, but the long-20th-century that ended in 2008.
November 10, 2025 at 6:09 PM
What if... it wasn't the short-20th-century that ended in 1989, but the long-20th-century that ended in 2008.
It's trendier to study the 1990s. But one can trace so much about today's world back to the early-2010s.
- Dawn of multipolar age
- Xi and Modi rise to leadership
- Reordering of Middle East from within
- Russia annexes Crimea
- Euro-crisis roils Europe
- Smartphones & social media become dominant
- Dawn of multipolar age
- Xi and Modi rise to leadership
- Reordering of Middle East from within
- Russia annexes Crimea
- Euro-crisis roils Europe
- Smartphones & social media become dominant
November 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM
It's trendier to study the 1990s. But one can trace so much about today's world back to the early-2010s.
- Dawn of multipolar age
- Xi and Modi rise to leadership
- Reordering of Middle East from within
- Russia annexes Crimea
- Euro-crisis roils Europe
- Smartphones & social media become dominant
- Dawn of multipolar age
- Xi and Modi rise to leadership
- Reordering of Middle East from within
- Russia annexes Crimea
- Euro-crisis roils Europe
- Smartphones & social media become dominant
Read the piece ;)
November 2, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Read the piece ;)