this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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[โ€“] the_tab_key@lemmy.world 135 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Would you rather fight 27 country sized eu members or 1 eu sized country?

[โ€“] Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 57 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[โ€“] bonenode@piefed.social 31 points 1 week ago

I'd say "Questions Putin should have asked", Trebek!

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[โ€“] 9point6@lemmy.world 124 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Why else do you think Putin and now his puppet wants it broken up?

Apes together strong

[โ€“] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 60 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[โ€“] errer@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

โ€œIndividually we are weak, like a single twig, but as a bundle we form a mighty removed!โ€

[โ€“] dublet@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (4 children)

The Latin for "bundle" is fasces and this is the origin of the term "fascism".

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[โ€“] moderatecentrist@feddit.uk 84 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I had a look at some stats regarding how EU citizens perceive the EU. I found this recent EU survey which interestingly shows that EU citizens trust the EU more than they trust their national governments:

A line graph ranging from 2004 to 2025. It shows how much EU citizens trust the EU, their national governments, and their national parliaments. The graph shows that across the entire time range, trust in the EU has been higher than in national governments and parliaments.

Also that link says that "74% say that, taking everything into account, their country has benefited from being a member of the EU". So perhaps the EU will survive and strengthen, despite its critics like those in the Trump administration.

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[โ€“] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 1 week ago

Most people in the smaller EU countries are very keenly aware that without the power of the group to face the World's large countries they would be nothing more than footballs for the big powers, same as before the EU.

It's not by chance that the only country to ever leave was big-sized (in Europe terms, but mid-sized in World terms) one with nationalistic delusions of grandeur leftover from the time when they headed an Empire.

[โ€“] DmMacniel@feddit.org 49 points 1 week ago

Apes together strong!

[โ€“] wltr@discuss.tchncs.de 48 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Thatโ€™s ironic, in a way, that thereโ€™s no Ukraine among those flags. Adding it would actually make the EU much stronger. A real life modern war experience (literally the most experienced country on the planet), plus the biggest country in Europe. With quite a large international community of emigrants (due to harsh historical circumstances). Plus experience filtering Russian propaganda, which is quite strong and influential (for those unaware).

[โ€“] foo@feddit.uk 23 points 1 week ago

Putin also knows how strong Europe would be with Ukraine, which is likely why he is so hell bent on destabilising the bloc and taking Ukraine for himself. The sad part is it seems to be working for him. Even if he doesn't get Ukraine the way he hoped, the campaign to destabilise the bloc is worrying.

[โ€“] Scrollone@feddit.it 21 points 1 week ago (15 children)

I agree that Ukraine would be a good addition to the EU (I hope that both the war and the EU join process will finish), but this meme is just about the EU not being a federation yet, so there's no reason to add the Ukrainian flag now.

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[โ€“] Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Europe is a vassal state of the US, as we're seeing with Venezuela now.

We even saw this with trade negotiations in 2025, where after Trump applied tariffs to the EU following the Big Bootycheeks Bill and the EU retaliated, that retaliation swiftly went away as Trump forced Europe to buy Americans' food, technology, cars, and energy, to invest in US businesses, to loosen the EU's policies towards good corporate governance and sustainable as it applies to US businesses doing trade in Europe, as well as an assortment of other actions.

So while you might believe that a United Europe can stand up to the US and China, you forget how much the EU relies on both of them. Yes, including China, which the EU would be smart to build ties with as the becomes more and more the 4th Reich.

If I want to purchase well made goods, I always look to Europe. The new watch band I got for Christmas came from a European maker (Watch-straps). The headphones I purchased last year came from Europe (Fairphone). The undershirts, underwear, and socks I bought last year all came from Europe (Dedicated).

Europe has some of the best policies in the world for fair trade and good economic production, sans socialism in China.

Just don't forget where the EU sits on the global stage. It's not on the same level as the US and China, two superpowers.

[โ€“] ClamDrinker@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think calling it a vassal state is a bit hyperbolic. Large powers such as the US or China can exert massive political force on any country, even each other. Sometimes it's better to give up your lunch money than be forced to take out your card and empty your bank account. And because the US has traditionally been an ally of Europe, the two are well connected and thus have many contact points to be pressured in (Especially points that hurt, like defense). Points that the EU might want to keep quiet on until they can bear the pressure, especially since the US is currently led by a felon with the mind of a child that wages wars for tantrums.

The EU has kept it's direction, which has always been further ahead of the US in terms like voting rights, healthcare, and life satisfaction, but the US has now taken a stark turn diverging from that path. Sure there are politicians in the EU that like to be US bootlickers, but even those are not a particular fan of what Trump is doing. We do have Hungary, and some others, but those are far too outnumbered to be considered to be making a vassal state out of Europe.

Europe definitely has the capacity to be a super power, but indeed we can only do it together. And lets not forget that China and the US also depend on Europe for a lot. If you look at trade, we are effectively equals.

[โ€“] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

China isn't socialist though, I'm sick of ~~both tankies and right wingers~~ many pretending that it is.

Edit: being less of a dick about differing opinions.

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[โ€“] OldChicoAle@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago (2 children)

As an American, someone please smash the USA cube into a million pieces

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[โ€“] twinnie@feddit.uk 32 points 1 week ago

Second biggest economy in the world by GDP and PPP.

[โ€“] LaserTurboShark69@sh.itjust.works 32 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Hey guys, got a room for a Canada in there?

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[โ€“] DandomRude@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

Very reasonable, but unfortunately not feasible with the chancellor of my home country, Germany. Friedrich Merz is nothing but a US lobbyist and definitely not a representative of the people. How can we get rid of corrupt politicians like that? I fear that things will even get much worse in Germany soon, because the fascist AfD, which in my opinion is nothing more than a front for US billionaires, will probably be the strongest force in our country, since the same social media platforms are at work here as in the US - with the same owners. But first, here is an excerpt from the CV of the current German chancellor, which should illustrate what I mean:

Friedrich Merz (born November 11, 1955, in Brilon), tenth Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany since May 6, 2025, CDU federal chairman since 2022, former business lawyer and long-time top lobbyist, has held leadership positions in a number of companies and business-related interest groups and networks. [1] Until the end of 2021, Merz was vice president of the CDU's business lobby group, the Economic Council, and a guest member of the presidium of the Small and Medium-Sized Business and Economic Union (MIT). In 2022, the MIT welcomed Merz's election as CDU chairman and stated that he was the first chairman to be a member of the MIT.[4] Armin Peter, most recently deputy press spokesman for the Economic Council and press spokesman for the then Economic Council Vice President Merz, has been deputy spokesman for the CDU and personal press spokesman for Merz since February 2022.[5] [6] Merz continues to be a member of the following organizations: Founding member of the New York section of the CDU Economic Council,[7] lobby organization Society for the Study of Structural Policy Issues,[8] Ludwig Erhard Foundation network, which brings together lobbyists and top politicians. Merz worked as senior counsel for the law firm Mayer Brown LLP until the end of 2021; prior to that, he was a partner for nine years.[9] During his time at Mayer Brown, he advised clients on corporate law, M&A transactions, compliance, and banking and finance law. According to research by CORRECTIV, he represented BASF as a lawyer on several occasions in 2010 and 2011. [10] He was a member of the board of directors at BASF Antwerp for almost a decade, where he headed the "Paints & Pigments" division of the BASF Group. From 2009 to 2019, Merz was chairman of Atlantik-Brรผcke [11] and from 2016 to 2020, he was chairman of the supervisory board of the German branch of asset manager BlackRock, for which he mediated relationships with important clients, authorities, and government agencies in Germany. [12] He was active in the Market Economy Foundation as a member of the Political Advisory Board of the Tax Code Commission. [13] In connection with his candidacy for the CDU party chairmanship, Merz ended his role as chairman of the supervisory board of Blackrock at the end of the first quarter of 2020.[14][15] At the 2021 CDU party conference, he lost a digital runoff election to his rival Armin Laschet. At the party conference on January 22, 2022, he was elected chairman of the CDU with 94.62% of the delegates' votes. [16] On September 23, 2024, Merz was officially nominated as the CDU and CSU's candidate for chancellor in the next federal election. [17]

[Translated from German | Source with source references]

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[โ€“] plyth@feddit.org 19 points 1 week ago (4 children)

If we have to pay the same price for being as big as China and the US, would it be worth it?

Having an elite that is beyond democratic control is not worth fighting for. We could as well join one of the big cubes.

We should try to strengthen democracy and freedom and find ways to succeed with that.

[โ€“] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

In a global capitalist order, you don't get to strengthen your democracy without achieving a mostly independent economy first (or somewhat simultaneously.) One that produces the vast majority of the commodities your people need for their daily lives. If you don't have that, you'd get subordinated by the large capitalist countries as they run out of value they can extract domestically or elsewhere. For example you'd get sanctioned into investing billions into their economy and buying from it at higher prices instead of investing that domestically. Then your democracy gets fucked because it doesn't deliver the life improvements its subjects vote for.

This is why you need the union, as not a single European country is sufficiently self-sufficient. The union isn't sufficiently self-sufficient either but it can get there faster and easier than individual countries. And it doesn't have to develop an unaccountable elite. Mind you it already has one. The opposite, it has to .. eat it .. in order to make the job easier by stopping the siphoning and misallocation of resources needed for development.

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[โ€“] U7826391786239@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 week ago (6 children)

in the states our history lessons are inadequate at best, false at worst, especially re: europe

has there ever been a point in history when all of europe was united? because now is a good time to keep that being the case

[โ€“] freebee@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Roman empire.

Third reich but that didn't last long.

Napoleon french empire but that didn't last long either.

Peacefully united? Never before as far as I know.

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