this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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As a Finn I have to disagree with this. I'm glad that our military has prepared and keep doing so and not just throw anything out of the door towards Ukraine as it's still a possibility we'll need those toys. Estonia and Poland seem to have the same strategy more or less. But anything directly west from Ukraine (Germany and France mainly) could just empty their warehouses and it'd give the best value out of their hardware they'll ever get. Stop the threat from the east and not spend a drop of domestic blood while doing it.
The military capabilities of specially EU countries is a poor joke right now. Not even the whole union can produce enough ammunition for a single (long and shattered) battlefield. If the Soviet Union in its former glory was still a thing they'd wipe the whole Europe and there's nothing we could do about it without USA and even with them it would be difficult due to logistics. Of course in that case I suppose Europe would be better prepared as well, but right now it doesn't look good. Hopefully this improves in the very near future.
There are no warehouse full with weapons in Western Europe. Most of them have been sold. So you would have to take weapons from soldiers, which obviously weakens the military. That is especially true since they have to train.
Then soldiers are needed for tasks, which have nothing to do with Russia. For example the issues in the Red Sea right now. But there are also troops fighting terrorism in a lot of different countries, UN missions all across the globe and so forth. Those are also needed for national security.
Then you have Western troops depolyed near the Russian border. You have Baltic Air Policing and NATO Enhanced Forward Presence, which both are meant to protect the Baltic countries for example. There are quite a few examples like that.
Also it is obviously a problem, when you do not have soldiers deployed at home as well. Russia has things like landing ships and planes.
Yes Finland is among the more exposed countries, yet Finland doesn't do as much as many other countries, like Norway, Denmark, Poland, Sweden. I understand Finland being a bit edgy, but at least you have NATO support now. Making a Russian attack very unlikely.
Europe has relied a lot on USA, but for instance Sweden, UK, Poland and Greece are absolutely no joke. Although Europe may be ill prepared for real conflict, Russia would not be able to roll over Europe.
PS:
AFAIK Finland can almost defend themselves with a single man hiding in the mountains. 😋