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Is Europe Making Itself Irrelevant?

There is worry among some that Europe’s military budget cuts will not only scale back personnel and material, but the continent’s reach and ambition throughout the world.
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Former French Defense Minister Herve Morin asked recently: “Do Europeans want to be actors on the international stage, or do they want to be the actors in a play they are not writing? At the pace we’re going, Europe is progressively becoming a protectorate, and in 50 years we will become the game in a balancing act between the new powers and will be under a Sino-American dominion.” Not all analysts share Morin’s pessimism, or at least its extent. Plenty of Europeans, mindful of their blood-soaked past, have no problem with downsizing their militaries.

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