Europe, Proportionality, and the Forgotten Language of Deterrence

In Europe’s strategic discourse, proportionality has become the default reference point whenever the issue of responses to threats and aggressions is raised. Whether the subject is terrorism, cyberattacks, or hostile actions by rival powers, the formula is almost ritual: a proportionate response, calibrated, commensurate to the damage suffered. This approach, seemingly balanced and consistent with international law, hides a structural weakness: Europe has lost the ability to speak the true language of deterrence. Deterrence is not, and has never been, a mechanism of symmetry. It is built on disproportion, on a psychological construct in the adversary’s mind that works only if he is convinced that any aggression will provoke a devastating, immediate, and unavoidable reaction.