None of these problems will be solved by the signing of the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation. PESCO’s goal is to develop European defense capabilities for EU military operations through a variety of longer-term programs. Although Europhiles may be rejoicing over the agreement, Europe has a much more pressing need: it has to get its forces ready to fight. According to a recent study published by the RAND Corporation, the British Army would need up to three months to assemble a brigade that could deploy to the Baltics. France would do better, at around one month, but many of its troops are busy with domestic counterterrorism duties. Germany, too, could put together a brigade within a month, but that brigade would need to borrow its equipment from other units.
Duplicating European NATO capabilities that are already inadequate rather than increasing actual European military power will harm Europe's ability to deter or resist Russia.
But the EU wants to eject America from Europe in order to get a free hand to build a European imperial state led by Brussels more than they want to keep Russia out. So of course PESCO is more of a threat to American-led NATO than to Russia.
Good Lord people. It's bad enough that Germany--with the largest economy in Europe--has only 224 tanks. But of those only 95 are "usable!"
Stop telling me that Russia fears the rise of the European Union as an imperial state capable of better resisting Russia than the proven NATO alliance demonstrated in the Cold War.
UPDATE: More from Strategypage. To be fair to Germany, they do have a thousand tanks in storage. America has most of our tanks in storage too, with only a relatively small number in the Army (fewer than a thousand, I believe), Army National Guard (about half the number of the active force), and Marine Corps units (just a couple battalions, I think).
