Extraordinary scene this morning on Germany TV today where the new leader said Europe needs to achieve independence from the US. https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-friedrich-merz-urges-independence-from-us/live-71700729

New German leader signals seismic shift in transatlantic relations

Merz hinted that the endeavour was so urgent that he was not sure on whether the transatlantic alliance leaders gathering for a summit in June "would will still be talking about Nato in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability much more quickly".

Significantly, the forthcoming chancellor put Donald Trump's America on a par with Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpv4n0dg3v3o

@GossiTheDog On the plus side, a kerfuffle between Russia and the European Defense Force (or whatever they call it) is much less likely to go nuclear than one between Russia and a US-dominated NATO.

@GossiTheDog finally some realistic talk from European leaders, now to hope they will also focus on digital sovereignty as well as military.
Since otherwise we can still be crippled fairly easily.

@GossiTheDog

They will have to be very careful not to arm the AfD while they are expanding their military. Putin's tentacles are long, and we've seen this in other places.

@bontchev @GossiTheDog Please dont call it European Defense Force lol. That shortens to EDF, and those are quite silly (EDF as in the Earth Defense Force Games)