Comments by "" (@ericsaxon5736) on "Why Does Estonia Have the Best Education System in Europe? - VisualPolitik EN" video.

Estonia pop 1,330,068 area 45,339 sqkm A small nation, that does not do have a lot of world obligations. Its safety, its prosperity and everything else is a result of bigger nations carrying much of its water. I'm sure many Estonians would find this offensive but allow me to elaborate. The reason for goods and services arriving in Estonia is due to safe shipping lanes, free of pirates or warlords brutalizing and oppressing and over taxing the producers and distributors of the goods. You don't get to have fruit and vegetables from Africa and South America or oil from the Mid East, without the U.S. navy making your access to said goods, at a reasonable price. Smugglers, human traffickers, international gangs, do not come to Estonia because there is a entry barrier to them, called the EU nations such as France and Germany, as well as the US and NATO. You want to know what life without said umbrella looks like? Try living in Armenia, where Russian gangsters run the country and pay off/intimidate politicians into doing their bidding. Mexico/El Salvador have their cartels. SE Asia has the Chinese intimidation. Estonians have a lot of benefits without shouldering much of the costs. Which is good but not realistic for most nations on the planet. I promise, that no teacher in Estonia has ever had to be worried about being threatened by a parent of a student because the parent is an MS-13 gangster or a Russian mobster or a Chinese Triad leader. So telling people to compare themselves to Estonia or imitating their model, is quite frankly ridiculous.
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@kalle911 I replied and not sure what happened to the reply. The quick answer is, that without the US holding the line for NATO Estonia and the EU would be up a creek. Imagine 2% of your GDP on the military without the (U.S. spending 35%+) and France and Germany and UK being the only guarantors of Estonia's security all spending less than 2%. How safe would you feel then? Normal countries spend 20% of their GDP. Estonia and the rest of Europe, are living a fantasy scenario paid for by the United States.
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@kalx007 I neither want more nor do I ask for more. What I am saying, is that much of the prosperity that much of Europe enjoys, has been built at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer. This is not a good thing, or a bad thing, it simply is a thing. However, when VP is preachy about countries who are 'more successful' or have greater economic growth, it feels a bit disingenuous when they fail to mention that much of the growth and success comes from paying a smaller share of the expenses. If the U.S. spent as much money on the military as its European allies, it wouldn't have any European allies. It would have a Russian occupation of Europe.
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@kalx007 As for Afghanistan, I believe Estonia joined along with other European peacekeepers in 2007. 2007 is not 2001. And police work, is not invasion. If we showed up to help our allies 6 years after aggression began, Europe would be speaking Russian for the next 6 years.
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@kalx007 I think you are underestimating the Russians willingness and ability to fight a protracted war. Charles XII (of Sweden,) Napoleon, Hitler, and countless others have done so before. How did that work out for them? Is Russia speaking Swedish, German, or French? I don't have to love the Russians, to be realistic and practical about their capabilities. The U.S. is in the hyper-aggressive stage of its national development, we can hold our own against Russia. I wouldn't bet my own life on the rest of Europe being able to do the same. I honestly don't think Europe can hold the line and drive the Russians back, without a lot of American backing. Europe has gotten rich and soft while living under the American umbrella. Germany having 200 tanks, with only 50 of them actually being repaired and able to be used, is a bad sign of things to come. And if you watch a few more VP videos you'll know what I mean.
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