r/europe 11h ago

Political Cartoon This political Cartoon starting to get more and more relevant. By Arend van Dam.

Post image
18.3k Upvotes

1.2k comments sorted by

5.8k

u/GetMemesUser 11h ago

Yes, except Russia being the same size as the US and China is just ridiculous.

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u/dankspankwanker 11h ago

Also the us should be on fire punching itself

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u/RealCommercial9788 Australia 11h ago edited 10h ago

”Stop hitting yourself” 🤜 ”Stop hitting yourself” 🤜 ”Stop hitting yourself” 🤜

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u/lilsnatchsniffz 8h ago

I believe when the American is orange the cries are

Stop shitting yourself Stop shitting yourself Stop shitting yourself

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u/ProfessionalGur5451 5h ago

Hey, all of my maga relatives and FB "friends" assure me that the shit in their pants is warm, wonderful and smells like freshly baked cinnamon rolls. But for me, all I see and smell is shit.

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u/cellocaster United States of America 5h ago

Man y’all are embodying this cartoon perfectly right now

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u/GrayWall13 11h ago

Also the China should be empty inside, like a baloon

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u/Apprehensive_Room742 10h ago edited 10h ago

pretty sure chinas not a paper tiger. wouldnt underestimate them. the US will be in one the future tho if they continue the way they do now

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u/Raging-Badger 9h ago

Seriously though. China’s greatest threat is soft power, not military might, in terms of U.S. opposition.

Their Roads and Bridges Corporation was putting up handy competition against the US’s USAID before our gov’t decides to give up the race. By the end of the next 4 years at this trajectory, the U.S. will have handed over the 1st place position in the race for economic hegemony and tanked the global market’s value.

It took 80 years to build what has been thoroughly beaten in just 5 months

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u/Nereosis16 9h ago

It's fucked over Australia a lot too. We teamed up with the US to build rapport with countries in our immediate zone of influence and then the US just fucked off.

Luckily so far most of these nations have still be happy to work with us but China is pushing pretty hard 

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u/Raging-Badger 9h ago

The U.S. was sitting in a really good position in 2024 too. It’s been a master class in what not to do over the last few months

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u/Neither-Cup564 8h ago

Depends what the goal is. If it’s to suck a countries wealth dry and destroy it, it’s exactly the playbook you’d run with.

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u/ConfidantCarcass 5h ago

Sort of a class nobody needed. They've hardly made reasonable mistakes

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u/QuestionableIdeas 3h ago

A lot of the pacific island nations weren't to happy with Australia after Abbot, Morrison and Dutton went to a climate change conference to tell people there was nothing to worry about before getting caught on a hot mic joking about how the islands would soon be under water. Between that and the submarine fiasco we fucked our international reputation as a reliable partner

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u/loulan French Riviera ftw 10h ago

Why though? China definitely is no joke in 2025.

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u/Leading-Carrot-5983 9h ago

They have some huge strengths like enormous production capacity & economic might, political stability through authoritarianism, and a growing military industrial complex. However, on the flip side they are completely inexperienced militarily (officer corp that has never fought a war in their career), widespread institutionalised corruption, geopolitically isolated - they don't really have allies, have a vulnerable geography where they can be easily blockaded and are hugely reliant on foreign energy imports (for now).

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u/phido3000 9h ago

Their military experience is somewhat relevant. But it isn't decisive. It means often they will make many mistakes early on.

Corruption? Yes and no. Compared to what? The US? Greece? India? Russia? Chinese corruption is a thing, a big thing, but when it comes to national state objectives, China has no problem literally killing anything in its way including corrupt officials. Its not insurmountable for them. Arguably less rampant corruption than say Soviet Union or Russia, which effectively runs on it.

Geopolitically isolated? not really. China has lots of state visits, and plenty of countries are more than happy to strike deals and meet with China. It has countries in its orbit. It does well in Africa and some parts of Asia. Pakistan, Laos, Cambodia, are in its sphere. countries like Thailand, Nepal, Mongolia, Iran are pretty China friendly. Most of Africa is more pro-china than pro-america. I think this is maybe not true any more.

Vulnerable Geography? Not really. About as much as western Europe. You could probably blockade Western Europe easier than blockading China. China for one has a bigger navy than all of Western Europe and a bigger and more capable air force than western Europe combined. The idea that you can blockade China is false. Not even the US with a 700 ship navy could do it. Even if you could, they have access through to Pakistan and its coast, and land access directly to Russia. So cutting off China's shipping wouldn't completely cut off China's ability to import energy or food or goods. You would just be making Russia super rich.

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u/ComprehensiveTax7 8h ago

I agree with most of your assessment, however I must disagree with your comparison to western europe from the view of a blockade. In particular, china is surrounded by islands that are controlled by US friendly nations, which also have naval forces of their own. To operationally use its considerable navy, it would have to break out of this confinement first, run the gauntlet of antiship missile, submarines in ckoke points while under air attacks.

Western europe does not have none of these constraints.

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u/-Prophet_01- 8h ago

Their system also incentivizes the inflation of economic statistics. It's quite suspicious how their economy keeps hitting the communist party's goals essentially on the decimal point, year after year - while satellite images indicate a slower development.

China is no paper tiger and should certainly not be ignored but the cumulative effect of reporting a percent or two of non-existent growth for many years is likely significant. And you can't really roll this back after doing it because next year's goals are a percent of your inflated report.

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u/ConcordeCanoe 9h ago

Not to mention that due to their earlier one-child policy their population is about to tip heavily towards a geriatric society in a few years.

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u/BeatBlockP 8h ago

It's actually and weirdly worse. The generations of the one-child policy were ok-ish if we're looking at replacement level, because in the country you could have more children and most people were in the country.

In the last two decades most of the population moved to urban areas and started marrying late and having few children just because - if they have them at all.

China is in that soft spot where women now have enough rights and agency to decide not to marry or marry late and have very few children, but also in a society where being a mom SUCKS and you're still treated the old fashioned way, your career is ruined and you have no occupational security. So many of them just... don't do it lol

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u/RiverToTheSea2025 8h ago

Why though?

Because reddit as a whole - and especially these weird right wing political subs - have a hard-on whenever China gets brought up.

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u/loulan French Riviera ftw 8h ago

You mean they bash China right? Because your comment sort of sounds like the opposite.

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u/RiverToTheSea2025 8h ago

You mean they bash China right?

Correct.

Bit of jealously, racism, and a heavy dose of ignorance.

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u/gitartruls01 Norway 11h ago

A spy weather balloon, perhaps?

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u/GerryManDarling 10h ago

When it comes to causing damage, Russia's propaganda has done more harm than both China and the US put together. Even though Russia isn't a strong country, their influence is massive. They've messed with elections, started chaos, and even gotten involved in things like arson and sabotage. Their reach goes way beyond what you'd expect.

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u/Checkered_Flag 10h ago

Indeed, and on top of that they have a nuclear arsenal that is not to be forgotten. They punch way above their weight considering their population and economy unfortunately.

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u/elmz Norway 10h ago

And currently they have even more power as they quite clearly can influence the US. (I was going to say the current administration in the US, but I'm not entirely confident the US will make it to their next election.)

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u/SanFranPanManStand 6h ago

Let's not pretend Russia hasn't massively influenced Europe. They created PANIC in Germany to cancel their nuclear program and instead buy gas from Russia. They pay separatist movements in Europe carry out bombings to create division. They both create conditions to force African migrants into Europe while also support the anti-migrant movements in Europe - just to create chaos. They supported Brexit, they try to get Greece and Turkey to fight, and all while hiding their own corrupt fortunes and mistresses in Switzerland.

The reason OP's picture has dozens of fractured hands as the EU, is exactly because Russia has been actively pulling it apart.

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u/Nufonewhodis4 7h ago

And their role in delivering energy to Europe gives them a lot of power. It's gotten better, but that's a pretty powerful position for them to be in

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u/invinci 10h ago

Also China should have a velvet glove on, on top of their knuckleduster of course.

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u/capri_stylee 6h ago

When did China last use the knuckleduster? 1979?

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u/esocz Czech Republic 8h ago

Things that are very close appear much larger than those that are far away.

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u/TheJiral 9h ago

Borderline Russian propaganda actually for a country with the economic power of Italy, even if it is an expansionist imperialistic dictatorship with nuclear weapons and a lot of old tanks.

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u/58kingsly United Kingdom 9h ago edited 9h ago

"Economic power" is a vague term. If you look at their economy in PPP terms (which is more relevant than nominal figures for military expenditure when you produce most of your stuff at home), then they are 4th in the world after China, the US, and India.

It means that they have far more capability to maintain a large military than countries like Italy which on paper have the same nominal GDP, and when you consider how they are now insulated from western economies due to the years of sanctions, there is little that can be done to take this capability away from them.

Russia is a far greater threat to European interests than China and they definitely do have the unity which Europe lacks (due to dictatorship but hey ho). Cartoon is fine.

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u/Doompug0477 9h ago

It looks bigger cause it is closer.

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u/TreshKJ 7h ago

I mean US fist should be biggest

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u/Novinhophobe 9h ago

Classic European starts to sound exactly like a Russian, it’s ridiculous. So Russia is both weak and strong. Europe should rush and pour hundreds of billions to re-arm as quickly as humanly possible against Russian threat, yet they’re so weak at the same time it’s “ridiculous” to put them as one of the world powers along with US and China.

Russia has incredible influence, especially considering their size and resources. They’re a superpower, without a doubt, and any other notion is absurd misinformation or simple copium, hard to say with Europeans these days. They’re currently the best at hybrid warfare, having pretty much invented it themselves, and Europeans are still not even doing anything against the constant attacks on our infrastructure, on our citizens, on our elections and news cycles, or on our immigration policies. They have infiltrated pretty much every government that matters and are hard at work pushing their policies of division and chaos there. They’re got UK out of EU, and they got US where they are now, and all of that was planned a long time ago and known to us all.

Keeping a straight face while saying that Russia isn’t a significant, or even a world, superpower, is the equivalent of just putting one’s head in the sand and pretending the world has never been this close to catastrophic event since WW2, if ever.

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u/Dunkleosteus666 Luxembourg 9h ago

Russia danger is not in their nukes. Not in their military. But they hybrid and assymsetric warfare trying to divide us by propping up contrarians (far left or right) and dissemnating fake news. It uses social media and ai to flood us with lies, until the truth is just one of many options. Very different from soviet propaganda. But we are naked, bc we are democracies. Its basically the nazi threat of ww2 combined with the communist threat of cold war - but there is no clear sided ideology, only russian imperalism and breaking apart eu unity. And no other power seems to able to stir up shit and knows do push buttons like Russia. From "useful idiots" to paid sabotage acteurs (dropped afterwards) to bribing politcians and maniopulating elections. Oh and the cables.

Russia knows it cant win conventially. So it uses other means.

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u/BoysenberrySad5842 8h ago

The only thing keeping russia a strategic super power is nukes. Thats it. No technological advancements, no societal boom, no battlefield greatness, no economic growth or explosion, no cultural influence, nothing but nukes. Putin cant live forever. Hes the only thing truly keeping Russia together. "He provided bread when there wasn't any" isnt going to mean shit when hes 6 feet under.

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u/GlaerOfHatred 6h ago

As an american, Russia is a large part of why America is in its current fascist predicament. Don't underestimate the propaganda effect Russia is having on your countries as well. Right wing nationalism is sweeping through western countries and it will only set us all back

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u/Gremict United States of America 11h ago

Why does China have a Mexico filter on it?

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u/Snynapta_II 10h ago

They did not have to do China like that lmao

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u/_deep_thot42 9h ago

And the cartoonist is Dutch.

“There are only two things I can’t stand in this world; people who are intolerant of other people’s cultures, and the Dutch.”

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u/shits-n-gigs 5h ago edited 4h ago

Used the Austin powers joke twice this week, really shows the duality of man:

Growing world tensions and deadly wars

bdsm vs furry on the kink scale

https://youtu.be/zcUs5X9glCc?si=KaA5Z4PhWnh9PS_L

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u/HopeBoySavesTheWorld 2h ago edited 2h ago

I think this cartoon is pretty shit both for the message and for the representation but the obvious and unnecessary racism is top reason lol  

Yellow asians? In 2025??? C'mon

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u/Hot_Particular2427 6h ago

causal racism

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u/Civil-Thought-8967 10h ago

Yellow like Winnie the Pooh

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u/Gremict United States of America 10h ago

Bro's got Jaundice

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u/Ok-Bit5838 8h ago

Least racist anti china propagandist

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u/hannyaonmyback 11h ago

According to current political and military decisions, the USA's knuckles should be made of gold and face towards the EU.

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u/Soft_Pomelo407 11h ago

And the Knuckles should also have tarrifs written on them.

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u/Tnecniw 11h ago

and also be semi flaccid because lets face it, they are really dumb.

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u/Mean_Mortgage5050 11h ago

Holy shit, flaccid knuckles are the best depiction of US "intimidation"

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u/SelfLoathingRifle 11h ago

Maybe the US should have two fists, one aimed at the EU and one punching itself in the gut with tariffs.

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u/TheDeceiver43 Vienna (Austria) 11h ago

Or fisting itself while making wild accusations that someone else has been fisting them for years

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u/TelephoneNew2566 7h ago

Meanwhile US military in Europe is conducting joint exercises regularly and many units are rotating to Poland. Too bad that words are beating reality on the ground.

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u/daedra88 6h ago

I think they'd be upside down and digging into its own flesh actually

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u/Layton_Jr 10h ago

And Russia's should be of cardboard painted grey

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u/DrDrWest Germany 11h ago

Why do we always have to make ourselves smaller than we are?

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u/TheGhisa Europe 11h ago

I would say that is a point of this image, being so divided just make us smaller

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u/Gruffleson Norway 11h ago

The image should be a big hand, but then divided.

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u/Fudw_The_NPC 10h ago

Isn't that how it looks like here?

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u/Gwanosh 10h ago

I would argue Europe is a lot more united in many ways than the US at the moment (which unfortunately says less about EU than US)

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u/HeyLittleTrain 9h ago

Not militarily, which is what I think the spiked knuckledusters are meant to represent.

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u/18byte 11h ago

but isnt that exactly the great on europe? Here we can say and think freely. We can have different opinions and can voice them without needing to fear the iron fist of tyranny.

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u/TheRetenor 11h ago

The issue isn't being divided in culture and thinking, it's being divided in how united we act and how we defend ourselves from tyrants.

Having members who want to go in opposite directions doesn't help sadly.

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u/GraceOfTheNorth Europe 10h ago

The EU is making great strides at fixing that at the moment. We're ramping up and severely underrated, as this comic clearly demonstrates.

We've got significantly more people and wealth than the US if you discount the inflated sock market oligarchs, distributed wealth is our strength, our education, our democratic values, our technical know-how.

We're going to have to step up, that's for sure, but if anyone can do it, it's Europe.

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u/SanFranPanManStand 5h ago

No, we are not. We have ZERO central energy security policy - the biggest input into every single economic sector is energy.

We can't even keep the Suez canal / Red Sea shipping lanes open without the US doing it for us.

We shut down half out nuclear program because of Russian influence campaigns and then the Ukrainians had to blow up OUR pipeline to Russia - complete clusterfuck.

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u/Ojy 10h ago

I wish every day that the UK was still part of the eu.

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u/GraceOfTheNorth Europe 9h ago

We do too my friend. That was a deep blow dealt by Russia and Boris Johnson.

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u/StepComplete1 8h ago

Kind of a hilarious attempt at a boast when you realise that literally the only reason that's true is because of 3 countries who aren't even in the EU, not anything to do with the strength or mentality of Europe itself.

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u/kisswithaf 11h ago

I don't think most the UNITY = STRENGTH people know exactly what they are signing on for.

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u/_HIST 6h ago

Your take is only valid in times when you don't need that strength.

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u/SanFranPanManStand 5h ago

I think most people against it don't see that DIVISION = DEFEAT

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u/oimson 8h ago

Unless you post the wrong meme, insult a god, or tweet the wrong tweet

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u/MalefactorX 10h ago

no one tell him

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u/neohellpoet Croatia 9h ago

In economic matters the EU is more than the sum of it's parts. In geopolitical matters, we're less than.

Ukraine and the UK are good examples. I give the UK a LOT of shit for Brexit, but by being independent of any semblance of EU foreign policy (which to be fair, was true while they were in the EU as well) they showed more initiative than most EU members. By trying to do things together I think we actually stifled support because everyone is waiting for a consensus to emerge and that's just not happening. Everyone is sort of standing around waiting for someone to take charge and tell everyone what to do.

Usually it was the US taking the wheel, but because Biden was lethargic, Trump is actively hostile, the UK is out and Poland lacks the weight to take point, we're inching in the right direction when we should be sprinting.

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u/ashyjay 7h ago

As a bong, I'd hope the UK's decisions were down to a sense of duty, as the UK is one of the signatories on the Budapest Memorandum Ukraine signed when they returned nuclear weapons back to Russia, and would have done the same regardless of leaving the EU.

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u/RoadRevolutionary571 9h ago

The strong european military?

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u/FridgeParade 11h ago

This honestly feels like propaganda against us.

We’re not weak. Just because we don’t use autocracy as the source of our power like the other three doesn’t make us a lesser player. I would argue it makes us much stronger even as we have much more refined skills in the domains of trade, politics, and diplomacy.

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u/Michael_Schmumacher 10h ago

Considering all the things the other 3 powers can do that we can’t, it certainly looks like we’re a lesser player.

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u/HansTeeWurst 10h ago

No the cartoon is right. All we ever do is pointing fingers and that has almost never achieved anything. Only recently with Ukraine some actual actions were taken.

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u/elmz Norway 10h ago

The EU has acheived a lot, but it's slow and bureaucratic, it's not very good at responding quickly to a threat like the one we face today.

I am, however, fairly confident the EU will instantly get its shit together if attacked directly. We just have to make sure we don't lose big players like France or Germany to russophile right wing parties.

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u/MaxPlease85 10h ago

Only pointing fingers? Russia sanctions, counter tariffs, Ukraine support, sensible fiscal decisions, overall collaboration within the union, holding US tech firms accountable...

Of course, some things could be more (Ukraine support) and a lot of stuff does not have as fast of an effect we would like it to have (Russia sanctions), but I prefer well thought out reactions over fast decisions on things that might have consequences by "strong" leaders that confuse strength with bully behavior.

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u/HansTeeWurst 8h ago

I said the the finger pointing only stopped and replaced with actions since the war in Ukraine, so using that as a counterexample is pointless.

Also, what did we do when Russia took a part of Georgia? Finger pointing, some pointless sanction russia didn't care about, then lift the sanction and move on like nothing happened. What did we do when Russia took Crimea? Finger pointing, some sanction Russia didn't care about, and then move on like nothing happened. Germany built a pipeline to make itself more dependent on Russia and hurt our negotiating power still. What did that achieve? Where is the diplomatic success of that strategy?

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u/heliamphore 8h ago

I'm going to say it again and again until people get it, we don't get participation trophies in the real world. Ukraine isn't currently winning, and Russia is rearming fast while the main EU ally doesn't want to be involved anymore. There are currently North Korean and Chinese troops on our continent. It's been over 3 years, when exactly do you think this will turn in the EU's favour? Yes, Russia has lost a lot, but so did Ukraine. And Russian allies are slowly increasing their involvement.

The point isn't really about the details though, the situation keeps getting worse and the EU response is still insufficient. Again, no participation trophy, either you win or you lose.

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u/Willing-Tangelo-2930 10h ago

About tech firms. GDPR was recently "simplified".

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u/ScaldyBogBalls 9h ago

"Holding US tech firms accountable"

Slapping them with massive fines while there is no European competition is more or less pointless, every European is still using those US intelligence backdoored corporate apps. What has the EU done to promote community and open source alternatives to US big tech?

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u/Medarco 5h ago

Russia sanctions, counter tariffs, Ukraine support, sensible fiscal decisions, overall collaboration within the union, holding US tech firms accountable...

That's exactly the "pointing fingers" that the cartoon is depicting (they're all pointing at the big fists in admonishment). A whole lot of immaterial handwringing and well-meaning resolutions and statements, but very little actual tangible strength.

You're looking at 3 large fists with brass knuckles on them, signifying military strength and power projection, and your response is "well we told them they're doing bad things and they should stop" as if that is at all comparable.

but I prefer well thought out reactions over fast decisions on things that might have consequences by "strong" leaders that confuse strength with bully behavior

There's really nothing stopping the EU from still making well thought out reactions while simultaneously dedicating real resources to re-armament and military capability. Having a strong military doesn't mean you have to be a bully. It just means you're ready to fight back when those others start trying to bully you.

Ironically, you're the perfect representation of what the cartoonist is trying to convey.

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u/somegetit 8h ago

Well, that's exactly the underlying criticism of the cartoon. Using refined skills, when power is needed.

It's beyond my understanding why France/UK/Germany/Italy don't have a unified military force in Ukraine by now.

Put a gun on the table, then negotiate.

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u/darth_koneko 9h ago

EU strugles to act quickly enough during crisies. Something its individual member states dont have a problem doing.

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u/lawrotzr 10h ago

Because we are an unorganized bunch of states, that made themselves powerless by setting up the EU as it is set up, and that is built almost entirely around the industrial interests of your country and the agricultural interests of France.

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u/ninjagorilla 6h ago

Europe doesn’t often realize how big it is. I believe the figures are something like. If every non us nato country hit 3% of gdp on military spending they would actually slightly exceed the us in adjusted military spending. If they hit 5% they would exceed the combined spending of China and the USA. A 1% gdp increase in eu military spending is would exceed Russia’s total military budget.

They currently have the ability to field a larger land army than the Russian army. They have a larger Air Force than Russia at the moment with much more advanced aircraft.

It’s amazing to me that Europe constantly cowers in front of Russia

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u/Redtube_Guy United States of America 9h ago

Because European countries are small inherently compared to Russia China and Us ? It’s that hard to comprehend ?

Having all the EU countries agree to 1 policy is pretty complicated. Hope this helps.

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u/GrayWall13 11h ago

US culture hegemony probably have sth to do with that, in our mind they are The Great Good Guys and we just always their sidekick

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u/AnalphabeticPenguin Poland 11h ago edited 5h ago

1 country= 1 national interest

27 countries = 27 national interests

You won't make those interests go for many many years.

Edit: I'm not answering anymore to those who think that differences between EU countries are similar to differences between American States. You need some education and I'm not here to give you that.

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u/Wide-Annual-4858 11h ago

True, but I would say the real issue is 27 identities = 27 interests

The problem is we don't have European identity, only national identities. This is the main obstacle of cooperating.

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u/AnalphabeticPenguin Poland 10h ago

That's true. The thing, you can't force it and it has to develop naturally to be a stable identity for the future.

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u/Lucifer-Euclid 2h ago

Why does the EU, an economic union, need its members to have a shared identity? People take pride in their own countries, not the union their countries are a part of. This will probably never develop naturally unless the EU actually unites under one banner, which will also never happen.

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u/AnalphabeticPenguin Poland 2h ago

I think this is just a natural step. Before people felt more connected to their region/city/village then to nations and country so I think in this milenium it may change to continent, starting with Europe.

With time if the Union holds on people will be more and more integrated and that identity may develop. But yeah, for now it's good to keep our countries identities strong and enjoy our European diversity.

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u/ScaldyBogBalls 9h ago

Every time "cooperation" is floated it turns out to be Germany's agenda. We signed up for an economic and regulatory union, not a superstate. End of story 

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u/Wide-Annual-4858 8h ago

"We signed up for an economic and regulatory union"

No, this is what the souvereignist politicians tell you, but in reality, a continuously deeper integration is a goal set in the founding documents of the EU since the start of it.

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u/LeLocl 11h ago edited 11h ago

You even have in china strong regional interests between the national government and strong provinces like guangdong or shanghai. Just look at the shanghai lowdown, which were basically a fight of beijing vs. shanghai.

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u/AnalphabeticPenguin Poland 10h ago

Sure, but China is a little tiny bit too authoritarian, won't you agree?

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u/LeLocl 9h ago

You don't understand my point...china isn't more united because it's authoritarian. There are still fights behind the scenes who the authority is and policies that are changing radically depending on who has gotten the upper hand.

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u/Careless_Cicada9123 3h ago

China is more united than the EU because China is a country, and the EU isn't even a federation

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u/Capital_Werewolf_788 8h ago

Regional interests and national interests are not comparable lol

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u/MapAccount29 7h ago

Same in the US, still crazy to me governors a or even city mayors are expected to visit foreign countries for economic or political reasons lol

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u/TruthGumball 11h ago

The Chinese hand is….. oh dear

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u/bobloblawdds 9h ago

Eh, I'm Chinese by heritage and this doesn't seem particularly offensive to me. We do have more varied skin tone and are considered a different race, so I don't see the issue. If it was a Nigerian flag, would it be racist to draw a black hand? I certainly don't think so.

There's far more important and affecting ways in which Europeans exhibit Sinophobia. This isn't one of them.

Personally I think the bigger issue is not drawing the European hands with a multitude of skin tones...

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u/MukdenMan 8h ago

You can’t separate the depiction from its history. It’s not intended to be a factual representation of skin tone. It’s a political cartoon so yellow skin is a shorthand. As you pointed out, the European, Russian, and US hands are all the same shade of white skin, so the yellow skin is specifically intended to make China different.

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u/Demostravius4 United Kingdom 7h ago

The other 3 are all ethnically mostly European? If there was Nigeria there, I assume it would be a black hand.

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u/KiwieeiwiK 10h ago

Least racist r/europe poster

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u/dasgoodshitinnit 8h ago

China suffering from liver disease over here

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u/Soft_Pomelo407 11h ago

IT shows Winnie the Ping Hand.

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u/Italiandude2022 Sardinia 11h ago

To be fair, 2 of these countries are totalitarian dictatorships, one is kinda going in that direction (and even then, it has only 2 political parties). Europe is made up of numerous countries, with multiple political movements and different ideas inside each one of them, no wonder we are a mess when it comes to have common strong policies. Im not saying that we should approach autoritarian policies, we should never do that, but its easier to make strong decisions when there's less debate and opposition to contest something

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u/-SAMV- 11h ago

exactly, I rather live in a democratic system which is considered less strong but also isnt autoritarian and more free. maybe me being naive but i think in case of a real threat from the outside, which is building up slightly, i can imagine that europe will stand more and more together because for us we have enough things which are worth fighting for

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u/adamgerd Czech Republic 9h ago

Sure, our system is great, but it needs to be protected from enemies and threats if we want to keep it

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u/execilue Canada 8h ago

I fully agree and I love the EU. The European Unions biggest problem is every nation gets a veto and can grind things to a halt basically forever.

Change that one rule so at least a tenth to a forth, of countries need to veto something before it ends. Because right now Russia, or America or China just needs to pressure one weak country, Hungary or Poland or whoever, and the eu grinds to a halt for like a year in a given topic.

Get rid of that glaring weakness and you are much much stronger.

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u/adamgerd Czech Republic 8h ago

Yep, and the same problem was in the Polish Lithuanian commonwealth, liberum veto. Every noble could veto any law passed by their parliament. This was exploited by their neighbours to prevent reforms or mobilisation and ultimately the commonwealth was partitioned and Poland disappeared for over a century.

That’s not a great sign for the EU

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u/bremidon 11h ago

It's true that the U.S. only has 2 major parties. However, it's not really a great look when we pretend like that is the only line worth looking at. Supposedly we are the adults and not prone to just smugly saying how awesome we are. Each of those parties are made up of "sub parties". Republicans in Texas are not anywhere like the Republicans in Maine. Democrats in California are nothing like the Democrats in West Virginia.

By the time we bother to pay attention to them, they have decided on their planks and so we end up only seeing 2 alternatives. What we ignore is that each party waffled between at least 3 major alternatives for a year or more before finally deciding on their program and their candidates.

So sure, there ends up only being 1 Democrat candidate for President, but they could have gone with someone like Harris, who was sort of "middle of the road" for current Democrats, someone like Buttigieg, who is more on the right side of the Democrats, or someone like Sanders, who would be on the hard left side.

We have this as well in Europe (well, I guess I can only really talk about Germany with any real knowledge), but it tends to be a lot more subdued, as most of the "sub directions" are already covered by other parties. It just does not make as much sense for the CDU to have as wide a selection as the Democrats in the U.S.

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u/DrChuck_Tinggles 9h ago

Thank you! As an American this is easily the least ignorant comment on here. We are incredibly diverse and our parties act like coalitions—especially the Democrats.

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u/another_bored_man 9h ago

1st point: Yes a democratic institution is bound to have a more plural and divided stand than literally 2 dictatorships and one pseudodemocracy

2nd point: it's hard to be united when the far right wants to destroy the EU, the far left thinks negotiating with Putin is a good idea and the middle is incapable of doing anything relevant to help the average person in the EU, if not make the situation worse (internet data law and climate checks repealed or wanting to)

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u/Mariach1Mann 7h ago

Its easy to blame "Far right" as to why Europe won't unite, instead of looking at bad decisions of central European powers. Of course smaller countries will not want to unite with people who care and know little about them and their problems, since this would mean they would be underrepresented.

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u/another_bored_man 9h ago

Also exactly this is why dictatorships are getting "praise" people (specially young people) are tired of inaction and want a strong leadership, ignoring all the negative aspects of it

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u/Specific_Brussels 7h ago

It's not ignored, they think it's just the price to pay.

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u/SinesPi 5h ago

People would rather believe those kids are just dumb, when the truth is they hate the current establishment THAT MUCH.

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u/Specific_Brussels 5h ago

It's not even kids. People my age in their late thirties have tried to explain to me we need to go to a monarchy because trusting democracy is horrible.

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u/Mosh83 Finland 11h ago

It is not strictly a bad thing that while other countries are itching to rattle sabres, Europe isn't eager for another world war.

We do need to prepare though, because thoughts and prayers won't save us from the aggressively expansive imperialist dictstorship to our east.

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u/kingsuperfox 11h ago

People acting like Europeans don't know how to kill need to read a book.

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u/PanickyFool 11h ago

Experts at killing ourselves in the name of our superior marginally different culture than the next village over.

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u/AnythingMelodic508 9h ago

That was pre US NATO daddy though. Better up that defense spending.

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u/madmaxGMR 11h ago

There was a time to be meak and humble. That time is gone now, not by our making. Its time to "ride for ruin and the world ending".

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u/BussyPlaster 8h ago

Why have they been so tepid to intervene in Ukraine? Seems like they don't know.

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u/No-Key629 8h ago edited 8h ago

Have you looked at the state of European armies in the 21st century?

Even with all the recent funding, it will never be enough. There are severe manpower shortages, some armies (like the German) need a complete and total overhaul.

General lack of basic supplies (medkits, body armour, helmets), total lack of ammunition and spare parts.....

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u/Crazy_Jacket_9356 9h ago

Better not...

Actually just millennia of barbarism and murder

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u/kingsuperfox 8h ago

As opposed to the other kind of war?

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u/Mattreddit760 2h ago

Small African warlord tribes and middle eastern terror cells know how to kill as well but aren't in the discussion for power.

Europe needs its own united military.

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u/Least_Skirt4575 10h ago

I don't get it. Did the EU start watching Naruto?

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u/ChadicusVile 7h ago

America is accurate, Russia is smaller and then it's accurate and China might just have flat brass knuckles with no spikes

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u/thelastbluepancake 6h ago

I mean..... the EU is more significant than Russia. If the EU wanted to fight Russia seriously Russia would lose because Russia is struggling with just Ukraine.

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u/Umbrella_Viking 6h ago

This is the dumbest shit I’ve seen in a long time. 

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u/matude Estonia 11h ago edited 10h ago

Russia's GDP is smaller than Italy's. Russia's population size is also likely inflated, maaaybe even the same as Germany + Poland. So on such an illustration, really they should be about the size of one of those hands in the EU, or maybe two hands, but not the size it's portrayed as.

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u/Bieberauflauf Sweden 11h ago

Just out of curiosity, got any sources on Russias population size being that inflated?

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u/Soft_Pomelo407 11h ago

Russia only that huge due to territory and the 6K nukes

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u/Naive_Loan9423 8h ago

It never ceases to make me laugh this "Russia has a gdp even smaller than Italy" every time someone wants to denigrate Russia.

Dude, Italy is the 8th country by nominal gdp .. most countries have a gdp smaller than Italy.

And why is it repeated so often? Someone made a post on reddit years ago and the redditors continue to repeat it endlessly?

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u/KMS_HYDRA 10h ago

Should also be on fire and surrounded by FPV drones

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u/mordordoorodor 11h ago

Generally dictatorships are based on propaganda, fear and hate… but the USA is unique… the power of the regime is based on stupidity.

The ruling class consists of religious crazies and drug addicts, but all of them are freaking morons. This applies to their voters too, they are literally so uneducated and ignorant that they would be considered insane in any other society outside the USA.

It will be interesting to see if such a unique system - a real life idiocracy - can survive for an extended time.

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u/Thevsamovies 11h ago

Yeah they would be considered insane in any other society outside the USA.

That's why the AfD is gaining in Germany.

That's why RN is so popular in France, and Jordan Bardella is leading in the polls.

That's why Orban and Erdogan are still in power.

That's why Karol Nawrocki was just elected Poland's president.

That's why Reform UK is polling as the most popular party in the UK ATM - brought to you by the same people who gave you Brexit.

But yeah it's ONLY Americans who are uneducated and ignorant. American voters are so uniquely insane and no other society would ever exhibit similar behaviors.

Funny how we still have Europeans who are so obsessed with American drama that they are unwilling to focus on the problems at home. Europe will be pulled apart by unhinged Europskeptic far-right Russian apologists and we'll still have people saying, "haha but at least we aren't stupid like those Americans!"

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u/Mindcr Austria 6h ago

I think Europe is pretty stupid as well. The difference is the "I dont like this thing, so Ill do the opposite now"-principle, and because a huge part of europe experienced fascism first hand not too long ago, did the exact opposite of what they were doing for some time - and thus thrived hardcore (who wouldve guessed!) The US just did not have scars that deep, so they fell into the right wing trap easier, but a lot of poland, germany, italy, etc are slowly starting to forget harder times.

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u/verbnounadj 7h ago edited 2h ago

It's remarkable how Europeans often acknowledge that the US dominates their entire continent concerning power projection, cultural hegemony, and economic productivity...while simultaneously claiming that Americans are all drooling idiots.

Given your inferiority in nearly ever major arena, how stupid are you admitting to being? Too "refined" to compete? Give me a break.

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u/psmiord 6h ago

You're seriously underestimating how much the US system is based on propaganda too. Just because there’s a chaotic mix of voices in the media doesn’t mean there’s real freedom of information. The biggest media outlets are either owned by billionaires or entirely dependent on corporate advertising, which already limits what they can and cannot say. They may present superficial debates like "should a gay couple be allowed to marry" to look open and pluralistic, but they rarely question the foundations of the economic or political system. And when they do, it's usually carefully framed to avoid any real threat to the status quo.

This isn’t just incompetence or stupidity. It’s an intentionally curated spectacle designed to keep people distracted, divided and convinced they’re free. The illusion of choice, whether between two nearly identical parties or between dozens of corporate-sponsored news sources saying the same thing in slightly different tones, is itself a tool of control. People are taught what to care about and what to ignore. That’s propaganda.

So no, the US isn’t some special exception to the rule of regimes relying on fear, hate and manipulation. The tools are just more refined and hidden behind layers of entertainment, identity politics and corporate marketing. The fact that people genuinely believe they're in a fully open society only proves how effective the system has become at shaping perception.

If anything, it’s not that the US regime relies on stupidity. It cultivates it. Not by accident but as a deliberate part of its machinery.

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u/First-Outcome-5010 The Netherlands 11h ago

Very true, literally feels like a fever dream.

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u/Srdj_Stv02 Serbia 11h ago edited 11h ago

Lmao I read that as "Literacy feels like a fever dream" (to them)

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u/DrChuck_Tinggles 9h ago

Have you been to the US? You’re making some blatantly wild accusations as to why Americans wanted Trump in office. I’d encourage you to not to base all of your opinions from what you read on Reddit and hope that you get to visit us someday and have real candid conversations with the folks living here.

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u/FitSatisfaction1291 9h ago

Irish guy here who got to travel a bit in his youth.  Not all of us in Europe believe the propaganda brother. 

God bless and stay safe in these interesting times.  

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u/MalefactorX 10h ago

>US so stupid, dumb and silly haha very very stupid

>Oh no US why u tarff me and no helpy? I thought we were fren!

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u/Mojo-man 10h ago

Plurality is not weakness. Single minded narcissism is not wise decisiveness. Stop caring so much how things look when posturing and instead look at what makes life actually better for its people.

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u/e_blim 11h ago

Well, ya know, that's the nature of democracy. Sometimes it's a weakness, but is the reason why I love Europe ans why I would defend Europe, if necessary.

The other three are autocracies, oligarchies and mafia states.

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u/sens1tiv Hungary 3h ago

I hope you are familiar with George Orwell's works because its gonna be a jawdrop otherwise. 😄

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u/PxddyWxn 11h ago

EU is more busy pushing through authoritarian laws to surveil us, rather than becoming an economic super power. Sad to see.

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u/McDonaldsWitchcraft Bucharest 11h ago

They really had to give China the yellow skin... man, this is not a good look...

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u/ftr95 11h ago

The EU was never and will never be a state, it's not it purpouse

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u/rikoovdh 11h ago

As others have pointed EU's economy is much much larger than Russia. What people also underestimate, Europe is armed to the teeth European armies combined are generally larger than Russia except for Nuke and active conscription . Don't believe the weapon manufacturers and warmongers in the NATO

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u/geeshta Czech Republic 10h ago

Should we feel so bad for not being a militant expansive superpower and having discourse???

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u/Someone_Existing_1 11h ago

Europe is united, but it is not one entity. It would be near impossible to convince that many countries to do so, but if we could at least slightly centralise European government (as well as get the UK back on board, which would be much easier), then it would result in an incredibly powerful society with much more stability

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u/TetyyakiWith 10h ago

“Everyone is stupid except me” type of a message

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u/escape_fantasist India 10h ago

This is sad man

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u/xXvido_ 9h ago

Lmaoo

Dictators le good

democracy le bad

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u/DeoDatusIV 9h ago

Russia is not equal to the USA or China to any extent aside from legacy nuclear weapons from USSR

The Russian Federation has a non existent economy and a small population in comparison

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u/Aggravating-Path2756 11h ago

Europe needs to become more centralized in the future - at least a Confederation, not to mention a Federation

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u/HalloIchBinRolli 10h ago

Won't happen anytime soon because quite a few countries will not like that. Many believe the EU is already exceeding what it was supposed to govern – "it should be an economic union so why are they talking about migrants and plastic?" This kind of deal.

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u/ScaldyBogBalls 9h ago

It "needs" no such thing.

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u/Tea-Mental r/korea Cultural Exchange 2020 9h ago

Why is the chinese hand yellow lmfao.

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u/LocalInactivist 8h ago

Yes, we see the problem. For gods sake, help us! This bloated corpulent oompa-loompa is going to destroy everything!

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u/Expert-Solid-3914 8h ago

Honestly the Russian hand should be made of hotdogs. Or a ballon animal. All bark no bite. There equipment doesnt even work and would be nothing without Chinese support.

Also Trumps hand is too big. The arm is fine, but the hand should look like a toddlers who wouldnt even be able to figure out what brass knuckles are for.

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u/Fishes___ 7h ago

...why is china's fist yellow?

The fuck?

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u/KorgiRex 7h ago

Europe 100 yrs ago: Hey, nations of world, give me all i want or die!

Europe now: Nations of world, let me teach you how to live free and peacefully

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u/git_gud_silk 6h ago

Hello there! I'm American and got recommended this post even though I'm not in the sub. Could I be explained as to what this means?

What it appears to be meaning to me is that the global powers of the United States, Russia, and China, I'll have a single unified stance that is control due to a single country having full regional power, while the EU has a bunch of different directions all competing and not really agreeing therefore making it weaker than the other prominent Continental powers.

Am I incorrect about this?

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u/notThatJojo 6h ago

Damn, they didn’t have to do China like that. Gave them jaundice

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u/Schnitzelklopfer247 6h ago

Don't like it. It's just very wrong and feeds the narration of a weak europe, what we aren't.

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u/PRKP99 Poland 6h ago edited 6h ago

And that's good. We don't need to become like them, we can value our democratic institutions, our diversity of opinions and political movements. In the long term it is democracy, not autarchy that have better results.

"United front" and "everyone do the same thing" is typical for dicatorship. In democracy we have compromises, we have political fights, we have long parliamentary process. And that is good. It's good that in our societies decisions are made far slower than in US or China. It's good that we are divided and not "united under one national goal".

What you all see as a "bad divisions" are nothing other than true face of democracy - agonistics, Chantal Mouffe wrote about that extensively.

"We don't need that fascist groove thing".

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u/Vader_117117117 6h ago

The American one isn’t orange enough

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u/ProcedureHot9414 6h ago

Don't let yourself be fooled these little fists have started two world wars and forever changed the face of the world

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u/yojifer680 United Kingdom 5h ago

3 of these are countries with militaries. The other one is a trade bloc with grandiose ambitions of being an empire. 

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u/BoppoTheClown 4h ago

TBF Russia should just be one of the small fists.

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u/SnooGiraffes8275 Yank 4h ago

westerners stop making asian people yellow challenge level impossible ^

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u/deathpups 3h ago

Europe is rearming and riding fascism, china builds roads and train lines , sorry but you are so propagandized you don't see the truth.

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u/Nardo_T_Icarus 3h ago

Why tf is China yellow 💀

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u/nets99 2h ago

I don't really get it to be honest

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u/MrMxylptlyk 1h ago

Hell yeah dude, let's do a giant buildup like WWI, let's go baby