Active military personnel
- Russia has 1.5M
- U.S. has 1.3M
- Ukraine 880,000
- Poland 202,100
- France 200,000
- UK 184,860
- Germany 181,600
- Italy 165,500
- Greece 142,700
- Spain 133,282
- Romania 81,300
- See link for rest of NATO
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The EU has triple the population of Russia. It’s ability to outman and out equip Russia is considerable.
Steve
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Good. No need for EU to come to US with hat in hand.
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A trifle misleading, since Russia can use a disproportionate percentage in its war against Ukraine, while Poland can not afford to have half (for instance) of its forces a thousand miles away from the homeland. I don’t know what a reasonable force projection of each country would be, but it’s surely less than 50%, probably not even 25%, where Russia could, if it chose, risk a higher percentage since they would be “within country” or at least within a few miles of it.
No good reason for USA to come to EU + UK + Norway + Canada + Australia + Mexico with hat in hand when China becomes belligerent.
America first! 
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Technically, Poland is no farther away form Ukraine than Russia is. There would be a hypothetical threat from Belarus, assuming Belorussian troops have not already been seconded to the Russians. The big guns of Europe, UK, France, and Germany, are father.
Steve
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Yes! I would like to see:
- French/UK nuclear missiles in Estonia, and Poland.
- Germany become a nuclear weapons country.
- German military and weapons increase by 3X in next few years.
- Other EU countries to increase military and weapons by 2X.
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That is including the Russian reservists but not Ukrainian or US reserves.
Something like that.
Klutz does corruption which is different.
Not really. The only reason for the war is Putin’s need to defend himself.
That includes against Russians. He can not spend down the army this way. He can see a revolt from within.
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There are NATO troops and weapons already stationed in Eastern European countries. UK, France, Italy and Spain can station more troops in Poland, Romania, Baltics and Finland.
/https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2022/3/pdf/2203-map-det-def-east.pdf
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We are possibly close to a tipping point where Putin can not defend himself against the Russian public.
Just putting it out there.
Beware klutz at work.
That would be difficult, as the UK and French nukes are on subs. Giving the Germans nukes would probably be redundant, as the UK and French forces provide a significant deterrent.
Steve
As Stephen Kotkin noted in the linked article found in the Static War thread today:
“And by the way, when we asked our European allies: if there were a conflict in the Indo-Pacific involving the U.S. and China, would they come to our aid? Their answer was maybe, maybe not. That was under Biden, Mr. Transatlanticist. And so the Europeans are not all in with us over Taiwan or the Indo-Pacific, but, hey, we have to be all in with the Europeans over Ukraine or over other vulnerable areas.”
DB2
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How about our Indo-Pacific allies Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand?
Steve
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Japan has been concerned for some time. For the last couple of years they have had record high defense spending.
The budgetary ascent of Japan began under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe 12 years ago, and has rapidly accelerated in the face of China’s aggressive actions regarding Taiwan and the East and South China Seas. The budget marks the second year that Japan has made significant budget increases — this one is 7.4 percent larger than last year’s…
In a major new strategy released in Dec. 2022, Japan committed to doubling its defense spending, deploying an aircraft carrier for the first time since World War II, buying hundreds of long-range cruise missiles and fielding other weapons fundamentally transform it from a strictly defensive military to one that can effectively deter and defeat threats.
And from last May, Australia is going nuclear…
Australia will spend a record AU$55.7 billion (U.S. $36.8 billion) on defense during the next fiscal year, according to budget documents unveiled May 14. The figure equates to 2.02% of gross domestic product and represents a 6.3% increase from last year…
Before the budget was announced, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy promised between AU$14 billion and AU$18 billion would go to upgrading and hardening military bases in northern Australia over the next decade.
“The Northern Territory is critical to the defense of the nation, not just in defending Australia, but projecting power out into our region against any potential adversary,” Conroy said. The 2024 National Defence Strategy, released last month, cited “increasing strategic competition” between China and Australian ally the United States, adding that the former seeks “to change the current regional balance in its favor.”
DB2
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Russia has 1.5M active military personnel as of July 2024
Larger numbers of soldiers in and of itself, in industrial and modern warfare, tells you relatively little about the effectiveness of a military force.
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That has been the position of the US since WW2. The US and the UK, along with Canada, played a pivotal role in initiating NATO. The US and UK engaged in secret talks. The US setting out the Truman Doctrine to counter Soviet expansion.
The hostilities that had characterized relations between Soviet and Western powers since 1917 gradually re-emerged at the end of the Second World War. This “East-West” divide was fueled by conflicting interests and political ideologies. There were clashes over peace agreements and reparations, and tensions were exacerbated by events such as the Berlin blockade in April 1948, the June 1948 coup in Czechoslovakia and direct threats to the sovereignty of Norway, Greece and Türkiye.
As the power of the Soviet Union spread to several Eastern European countries, there was concern among Western European countries that Moscow would impose its ideology and authority across Europe. From the end of the Second World War in 1945, Western governments started reducing their defense establishments and demobilizing their forces. In January 1948, however, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin spoke of the need for a “treaty of alliance and mutual assistance”, a defensive alliance and a regional grouping within the framework of the UN Charter.
The United States would only agree to provide military support for Europe if it were united. In response, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom signed the Brussels Treaty in March 1948, creating the Western Union. Designed to strengthen ties between the signatories while providing for a common defense system, the Brussels Treaty ultimately became the basis for the Washington Treaty.
In the meantime, the US Senate adopted the Vandenberg Resolution – a resolution that would change the course of American foreign policy since it allowed the United States to constitutionally participate in a mutual defense system in times of peace.
The ground was set for negotiations to start on a transatlantic treaty.
The talks on what would become the Washington Treaty took place between the powers of the Brussels Treaty (except Luxembourg, which was represented by Belgium) plus the United States and Canada. Representatives from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States constituted the core drafting team, but participants from other countries also contributed to the initial discussions, with the assistance of a working group. What has been coined as the “six-power talks” gave birth to the Washington Paper, issued on 9 September 1948, which contained an outline of possible future articles for the Treaty.
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Unmanned drones in the air, the sea, on the ground, and in space are replacing boots on the ground but generals and commentators keep fighting yesteryears’s wars.
The Captain
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Poland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland can easily have UK and French nuke subs in their Baltic harbor areas. Russia would have nightmares if French and UK nuke subs stationed in the Gulf of Finland which is nearest to St. Petersburg.