What's Wrong With Europe?
Europe — 27 countries in the European Union, another 19 outside of it — is rich, educated, with solid institutions and a weighty history. And yet, today the continent seems like a luxury spectator in the world's major crises: in the war in Ukraine it paid more than the United States, did what Washington told it to do, and sat, at best, at the minor negotiation table, without any diplomatic initiative of its own. In the Iran war of 2026 it was informed, not consulted. And in the global technological race, Europe produces first-class science — but almost no first-class companies.
