I don’t mean the EU as such, as it doesn’t have any spying capabilities, but states like the UK, France, Germany and maybe Sweden, Norway, Italy or Spain must have satellites orbiting earth to spy on adversaries, equipment to eavesdrop on communications like the NSA does, operatives on the ground…
Can they substitute American intelligence gathering, now the US is essentially trying to pull a chamberlain on Ukraine?
I dare say intelligence in at least 7 European countries rival the US intelligence. But it’s a good thing imo that a lot of people underestimate European capabilities.
Also, when it comes to Russia, Ukrainian intelligence is top notch due to historical ties.
But TBH, I do think Europe needs to find a way to make peace with Russia and with the Middle-East, specifically Turkey, Egypt and Iran.
They are our direct neighbours. The cold war idea that we could have a powerful friend across an ocean, while having strained relationships with our direct neighbours just isn’t going to be a good strategy going forward.
Good relationships go both ways. It’s pointless to be friendly to an abusive partner. It’s not just Russia but the US as well now.
Peace with Russia is difficult as long as Russia isn’t interested in peace, which they clearly aren’t
All we can get on that topic is wild speculations. Nobody who has inside knowledge of the exact capabilities of each of these countries is going to share that here.
To some extent. But intelligence is worthless if there’s no one to act on that intelligence, and European militaries are woefully understaffed and underfunded.