The elephant in the room is the Ukraine war. Without sending a single soldier, Europe has been utilizing the Ukraine-Russian war to grind down Russia's massive "mothballed" supply of former Soviet equipment as well as a massive portion of its available military-age population. While Putin may be right that in a knock-down/drag-out fight neither side would win, Russia now suffers the same type of limitation that the US does after using up a large portion of its major offensive and defensive weapons on its recent string of Middle East adventures. It's not out of the running, but its "safe" options are far more limited.

In the meantime, the vast sums of money which Europe is fronting to Ukraine (whether as a gift or a loan) is clearly stressing the rest of their financial obligations - a point which Russia's social network bots eagerly drumbeats. IMHO, the right wing opposition parties challenging the current European leadership will find it easy to claim that, by stopping the flow of money to Ukraine, the domestic problems will disappear.

In a world where the US administration seems determined to go back to the era f "great powers" carving out spheres of influence by military force, Europe's current reach towards Canada makes sense.

Jeff