Europe is struggling to rebuild its military clout

after the fall of the Berlin Wall Europeans spoke of their peace dividend, a welcome freeing-up of money that seemed no longer needed for defence but could now be spent on pleasanter and more productive uses. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, all that should have changed. Yet in the 14 months since then, the picture across the continent when it comes to actually putting money where mouths are is still patchy. European defence spending went up overall by an impressive-sounding 13% last year, according to , a think-tank in Sweden. But two-thirds of that was eaten up by inflation—and anyway it included Russia and Ukraine.