Europe Wasted 8 Years, Now Here We Are

It's been eight years since the first push into Ukraine and Crimea, and the EU has squandered its chance to rebound from a brutally embarrassing example of how anemic and ineffective it was. If anything, it has only made its situation worse. It's been eight years since the first push into Ukraine and Crimea, and the EU has squandered its chance to rebound from a brutally embarrassing example of how anemic and ineffective it was. If anything, it has only made its situation worse. [Outsider Club logo] Europe Wasted 8 Years, Now Here We Are [Adam English Photo] By [Adam English]( Written Feb 24, 2022 It's been almost exactly eight years since the first Russian push into Ukraine. Eight years since the EU showed how little it could collectively do for a tentative ally in one of the most important geopolitical regions in the world. Eight years since the EU was forced to blink and balk when faced with disruptions to its make-or-break dependence on Russian energy exports and its woefully unprepared militaries. How embarrassing. Now here we are, eight wasted years later. It seems the lesson wasn't learned; this time it could face a far harsher lesson. This Weird “Metal Fuel” Could Power Your Car It’s about to become the next big go-to fuel for America’s power companies... A unique “metal fuel” that could generate power for the cars of the future... Run entire gigafactories and fuel-chugging steel plants all on its own... And it could do so while producing ZERO carbon emissions! It’s not some "new oil,” lithium, battery, or hydrogen fuel cell. [The tiny stock behind this breakthrough could soon give early backers 4x returns.]( We're seeing the same playbook Putin has used to great effect time and time again. Blur the lines between the military and local partisans. Issue Russian passports and claim citizens are in grave danger. Chip away on all fronts, especially economic and infrastructure, including and especially computer systems and communications. What has changed? Certainly not Ukraine's resilience against such a larger foe. If only it had reliable neighbors that weren't such fair-weather friends. EU capabilities to resist Russian aggression are anemic and faltering further. The most recent report on the EU's push to bring cybersecurity up to a passable standard is damning. Since being implemented in 2016, the Directive on Security of Network and Information Systems is functionally being starved. 67% of EU countries are underfunding the effort, and 18% haven't done anything at all to implement the plan. As for more direct military figures, the EU looks as weak as ever. Apple’s Ultimate Masterpiece About to Hit the Market Folks, Apple has been running the personal technology game for decades. Every single gadget it's ever released has been a smash hit. And now, it's ready to release what could be its final product. Its magnum opus. One product that could replace every single device you own. And best of all, it could make you unbelievably rich. And as if that’s not enough — you don’t have to buy a single share of Apple’s stock to do it. [Click here to find out what Apple’s planning...]( According to the World Bank, as a percentage of government spending the EU is around 2.85% as of the latest data (2020) and sinking back to all-time lows. [eu def percentage of govt spending] As a percentage of total GDP, the EU averages just 1.25% in spite of a NATO requirement to spend at least 2% that was put in place 18 years ago. Sure, individual countries may be small, but total EU GDP accounts for 16% of global GDP compared to the U.S.'s 16.3%. Put in real terms, the U.S. GDP was just under $21 trillion in 2020 while the EU's was just over $15 trillion. Yet the EU spent $225 billion compared to the U.S.'s $766 billion. If the EU maintained proportional spending to the U.S. based on GDP (the U.S. spends 3.7%), the EU would have to more than double its budget to around $575 billion. The U.S. now accounts for 70% of all defense spending by NATO countries. Member nations can no longer field forces with complete dependence on U.S. logistics and intelligence. Total EU armed force members have shrunk from a high of over 3.5 million to under two million in 2014 during the last invasion. As of 2020, it went down another 50,000. The EU's strength may not be in arms, but it certainly carries a lot of economic weight. Too bad that is even more useless eight years after the first invasion. too. The #1 Strategy for Biotech Stocks? It’s no secret that biotech is the most exciting investment arena there is. There’s never a shortage of demand for new treatments for the world’s worst diseases, like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and arthritis. And with my new trading system, “Project Greenlight,” you’ll always know with up to 95% confidence which of those new medicines will be approved by the FDA and which won’t... This could set investors up to make six figures or more in biotech profits. And right now, there's a tiny biotech firm trading for pennies on the dollar with a medicine that’s on the brink of FDA approval... [Learn more about this unique opportunity today.]( Previous rounds of sanctions have largely removed Russian reliance on above-board money flows into western Europe and North American banking systems. Russia imports a fraction of what it used to from the EU and the U.S. as well, following the last invasion. In 2013 it imported about $90 billion from the EU compared to nearly $160 billion in 2013. Imports from the U.S. are down to about $5 billion from a high of about $11 billion in 2013. These are not the kind of numbers that will make a country flinch. On the other sides of the equations are numbers that will. About 40% of EU natural gas imports come from Russia. Germany relies on it for 22% of its needs and a recession there will bleed across the continent overnight. Putin undoubtedly sees this and knows he has the winning hand. It is not clear if the EU has any idea of how poorly it has positioned itself, or if it can shed its self-importance and endless bickering in Brussels to admit that it has little international power when push comes to shove. What is clear is that the EU squandered eight years that could have changed the equation today. Its response will be as timid, weak, and slow as last time. It is clear that President Biden isn't going to move as decisively as he claims, with a majority of Americans saying we should not directly intervene and with his abysmal approval ratings. It is clear that sanctions that can hurt Russia will hurt the EU more. It is clear that the last thirty years may have just been halftime in the Cold War, and that military and cybersecurity spending have to go up or Russian dominance will spread back over eastern and central Europe. And above all, it is clear that no one really has Ukraine's back. Unfortunately for it, it can't follow the sage advice that “when no one has your back, move your back.” A couple months ago I would have said that Putin never would bother. Russia was getting just about all the benefits of a war while spending a fraction of the cost on warmongering. I'm still not sold that this is going to go into a full-on war and is just a further escalation. The closer I look, though, the clearer it is that he can take it all, and no one can or will do much to stop him. Take care, [Adam English] Adam English [follow basic]( [@AdamEnglishOC on Twitter]( Adam's editorial talents and analysis drew the attention of senior editors at [Outsider Club](, which he joined in mid-2012. While he has acquired years of hands-on experience in the editorial room by working side by side with ex-brokers, options floor traders, and financial advisors, he is acutely aware of the challenges faced by retail investors after starting at the ground floor in the financial publishing field. For more on Adam, check out his editor's [page](. *Follow Outsider Club on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. Browse Our Archives [Deep Value Comes to the Market]( [Get on This Bike and Ride!]( [Leave Luke Alone!]( [The Chip Shortage Seems Awfully Similar to Another One 80 Years Ago]( [Space Mining: From Fiction to Fact]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to {EMAIL}. It is not our intention to send email to anyone who doesn't want it. If you're not sure why you've received this e-letter, or no longer wish to receive it, you may [unsubscribe here]( and view our privacy policy and information on how to manage your subscription. To ensure that you receive future issues of Outsider Club, please add newsletter@outsiderclub.com to your address book or whitelist within your spam settings. For customer service questions or issues, please contact us for assistance. Outsider Club, Copyright © 2022, Outsider Club LLC and Angel Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. 3 E Read Street, Baltimore, MD 21202. Your privacy is important to us – we will never rent or sell your e-mail or personal information. Please read our [Privacy Policy](. Neither the publisher nor the editors are registered investment advisors. Subscribers should not view this publication as offering personalized legal or investment advice. Read our [Details and Disclosures.](