Unfortunately for them, Russia has them bent over a barrel, so their demands are gonna be rich.
The US is tapped out, so no help to come from that hemisphere.
The only hope for the EU is that China will come in with some kind of a bailout program because they don't want to see Russia conquer Europe and then be able to form a Eurasian hegemony that will then proceed to roll China...
But bailout without restructuring is just extending the bad practices, and Europe needs to cut spending. Unfortunately "stop spending money you don't have" is never a vote-winner, so herein lies a challenge.
But in that regard, Europe has a really surprising opportunity because the EU and ECB are kind of autocratic, so if China will underwrite the Euro, they can be given partial control over monetary policy, so that the failures will be the bad banks rather than the entire currency.
But the problem that remains is the individual countries. The French and Italians don't understand financial markets, they understand that you vote for presidents who do or don't give you nice stuff. The reality is more like "Vote for whoever you want, but if they are not financially sound, you get flogged by the bond market".
It's like the scene in Indiana Jones: Voters decide which cup to drink from, and the bond market says whether they chose wisely, or not.
NATO's Next Nightmare: #French Presidential ElectionsNATO is growing anxious that France’s next president could significantly weaken the alliance at a critical moment. Polls indicate substantial support for candidates skeptical of #NATO. Marine Le Pen advocates withdrawing #France from integrated command, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon demands a complete exit.Such a move would deal a severe blow, as France is the EU’s only #nuclear power and a key military contributor with troops
