True, but that has been the situation for a while. Japan has done pretty well for itself and it has virtually no natural resources. Yes, of course there is a lot of "apples and oranges" comparison there.
"Though Europe has been politically neutered, what happens when they grow some balls again?"
European politicians are already growing balls. You see this today. They just arrested the leading anti-war candidate for president in Romania, after annulling his first-round win about a month ago.
It is no coincidence (to me) that Romania is ALSO the site of the biggest US military base in Europe (bigger than Rammstein in Germany), Romania has Aegis missiles and is on the border to Ukraine.
Slovakia's anti-war president barely survived an assassination attempt last year.
The establishment EU politicians have been trying to make Hungary's anti-war president a pariah for years.
Czechia had already street demonstrations 2 years ago against the war with 70,000 people in the streets of Prague. Never mentioned in the western press. Anti-war candidates are popping up there as well.
I'm in Austria so next door to Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. I do business in Romania for almost 20 years.
Scholz is now out Germany and the results of the election last week have caused massive turmoil.
Poland is growing tired of Ukraine's demands. This comes up in the news more and more often. Polish politicians refuse to give more money to Ukraine because their own constituents will throw them out if they do.
It is no surprise that the most pro-War country in Europe, the UK, has Prime Ministers with the shelf life of a head of lettuce. Macron has only held on to power by just barely legal political maneuvers. He cannot survive another election.
Cahones are growing in Europe. The US press doesn't cover it at all, and in Europe it is not much better. But the fact that the "big three": UK, France and Germany are all losing their top spots AND they all support the war cannot be denied. Currently the MSM is trying to keep a majority of the public from understanding that the "AND" is really "BECAUSE."
Once the general public understands that it is only the people at the top who actually want war, the dominos will fall much more quickly.
With heating prices 3-4 times what they were all over the cold parts of the EU, this much colder winter than last year will speed that process a lot.
