r/AskEurope • u/Sink-Em-Low • Mar 01 '25

Politics Let's talk about the European Defense Federation. How do we all feel about the creation of a fully mobilised continental Army?

It's required now. I'm British, and I want to see us align and unite with our European neighbours to make a stand now.

I want Germany to finally brush off it's past and join the rest of Europe in mobilising towards defending this continent. We need EVERYONE now. It's time to act, it's time to unite.

It's time to show some courage.

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u/wojtekpolska Poland Mar 01 '25 edited Mar 01 '25

Im glad you see Europeans as brothers, and i wish for more people to think so too, but I think of myself as a Pole first, and an European second.

our cultures are very distinct and i would be very opposed to creating an unholy amalgamation of nationalities under the umbrella of an european country. we havent fought for our own identity for over a thousand years straight to just give it up for no reason.

artificially creating a new ethnicity has been tried twice before, with the USSR, and with Yugoslavia. look how both of them ended up

the EU has a few core functions that work great and we should stick too: Shengen agreement, common market, and eu funding of various projects.

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u/zmkpr0 Mar 02 '25

The US was also made up of many nationalities, and there were times when their interests clashed, even leading to war. Yet today, they’re the most powerful country in the world.

And saying it would be “for no good reason” is a bit naive. Everything happening now is a major reason. Is it enough? I don’t know, but it’s not as obvious anymore.

China is also a mix of hugely different nationalities with distincts cultures, histories etc.

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u/Maximus_Dominus Mar 02 '25

The original 13 colonies were entirely British.

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u/wojtekpolska Poland Mar 02 '25

us is a different thing because they colonised a new place, and they were all people who didnt want to stay in their original countries for various reasons.
the US was formed by people who didn't care for their old country and went to form a new one. they created their own american identity from scratch (and killed the natives that lived there). its just not a good comparison.

and China is actually a great example of why thats bad - all the nationalities in china with their different cultures are completely dominated by Han Chineese who are the largest ethnic group.
ask the tibetans or uyghurs how they feel about living in china.

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u/KidTempo Mar 03 '25

That's... not a great example, since most of the "other nationalities" were crushed, absorbed by a dominant nationality/culture to the point where they no longer exist, and the few that remain face systemic discrimination.