We (Polish) have been raising an alarm about Russia since the first Chechen war and it took additional dozen+ years and a land invasion of a European country before countries in Western EU woke up.
Do you think they are going to be quicker reacting to danger from the other side?
I highly doubt it. EU is like a huge steam ship. It takes a lot of effort to turn it. But once it gets going good luck stopping it. This will have consequences for the EU-Us relations for the rest of this century.
I fact it is exactly what a Russian agent if he managed to become a president of US would do. A Putin's wet dream basically. Be hostile enough towards Russia to preserve appearances - seize a tanker or two, while undermining long term US and EU interests (the interests of these two are naturally aligned very well, it takes much more than an idiot to drive a wedge between them).
The thing is that the EU is a complex structure. The interests of countries such as Poland, Italy, Germany and Ireland differ wildly, which is why things are so slow to maneuver, politically speaking.
I always considered that the over reliance on US a weakness. It was comfortable because it postpones some difficult discussions (for example, in terms of defense and military spending it is completely bonkers for the EU to not act as a federal entity). Since this subject is thorny, it was alright to rely on the US for defense and just kick this can down the road.
The US becoming hostile at least forces the countries in the EU to face reality a little, and perhaps speed some things up (see for example the recent EU-Mercosur trade agreement).
The other factor is that both Russia and the US have people 'on the inside' in the EU governments. They bought them. They own them and they do what they are told.
Do you think they are going to be quicker reacting to danger from the other side?
I highly doubt it. EU is like a huge steam ship. It takes a lot of effort to turn it. But once it gets going good luck stopping it. This will have consequences for the EU-Us relations for the rest of this century.
I fact it is exactly what a Russian agent if he managed to become a president of US would do. A Putin's wet dream basically. Be hostile enough towards Russia to preserve appearances - seize a tanker or two, while undermining long term US and EU interests (the interests of these two are naturally aligned very well, it takes much more than an idiot to drive a wedge between them).