>>51596
>>51597
>>51598
Retard tor lurker, I remember tor casing no country ball to appear above posting and being something of a no no here, but bare with me for just one second.

Hard power versus soft power I think would be a better lens for this debate over one side being weaker or stronger than the other. In a perfect world of advancing capitalism and economic stability, I think the EU does have a chance to dominate. For soft power is influence. Slowly building soft power is an erosion on hard power like sugars and teeth. Not rocking the boat for prosperity is attractive and most would slowly trade freedom for comfort and to the average citizen of some Eastern, Central or balkanized European country, the amount of autonomy and civil protection afforded to them is superior. Just at the expense of the sovereignty of their country!

Hard power? Hard power matters. Is Russia all that weak? They could nuke Europe off the face of the planet! The US' own nukes and the sheer level of destruction to their own economic interests means they won't make that choice rationally but a combination of factors I won't go into here have made them try to do more "hard power" maneuvers. Ukraine is hard power versus soft power. (with Ukrainian nationalism in the middle). The EU's and West sanctions didn't weaken Russia as much as they wished but did weaken their own soft power and gave Russia and China some of it. Yet, Russia's own neighbor's Russia has lost a great deal of soft power due to the fear of being invaded.

Hope I don't break flow of discussion. Have a nice day /kc/.