Why can't Europe defend itself?

[a completely inoffensive name]

Oh, well then, any minute now world peace will break out. 'Cause the Israelis and Palestinians are such reasonable people.

I said the solution is simple: get a peaceful end to the conflict. I didn't say that implementing it would be simple. Getting a peaceful solution will be the most difficult diplomatic achievement in human history.

They used this exact same argument about economic interconnectedness making war improbable right before the First World War. Improvements in technology have made states today more capable of being self-sufficient than at any time in the past, there's really no reason to be complacent that a war won't come about over conflicts of interest.

1. The level of economic interconnectedness wasn't on the same level as we see today.
2. I would think that having your empire encompassing enough land across the world to be roughly the size of Europe itself would make you pretty damned self sufficient as well. Today, countries do not have such an advantage to the same extent.