“Every time Trump or members of his administration have lashed out at Europe, including Ukraine, Europeans have absorbed the blow with a forced smile and bent over backwards to flatter the White House.” (…)
“While a systemic answer to Europe’s security conundrum is not in sight, Europeans do have the levers to prevent Ukraine’s capitulation and create the conditions for a just peace.”
They arent alone, eu, uk, the nordics. canada, australia, japan, taiwan, and a bunch of other nations all have common cause
And even the EU alone does not need to hide from the US. Including the other countries shifts it even more.
It is the US that is becoming more and more alone, especially if we finally do our homework and realise our potential.
Yes agreed , it’s been imo dramatically portrayed as we have been overly dependant on the US to take the lead after WWII. They were able to cut through most internal divisions, and now its enterily up to us.
Time to feel more confident and step out in the World, not as post-WWII Europe or an infant sucking at anyone’s tits, but as self conscious and aware Union with it’s own character, values and way of life.
How about falling to fascism and alignment with Russia or the USA, one country at a time? The process of undermining European democracy internally is already well underway.
That would stop in the moment the other party (parties) would start to be a responsible party and not a driven_by_the_ideology_of_ the_day party.
What you call fascist in reality is mostly the right that started to talk about real problems that the left choose to ignore (if not making them worst) and then get elected.
True, there are some real fascists here and there and they are extremist but overall they are a minority of the right (and, tbh, these extremist are present also on the left and everything in between).
Good point and very likely too. The moderate and left parties need to reinvent and redefine themselves better.
But imo simply talking about " the real issues " will not help us, and most solutions the (more) rightwinged parties offer are just false. The worries people have are real but comsider that this fear is also used for fear mongering and are often fed by propaganda.
Probably it will not help to solve the problem, but at least it is a start. True, you need then to act on the issues…
… and you are right here. The rightwinged often offer solutions that are doomed to fail but at least they try.
More importantly, if you talk and act on these, you don’t leave the scene to just one side.
That’s the point, but let’s be honest: if we ignore the extremists on both sides, the right began to win exactly when the left decide to commit suicide following ideas and objectives which, while obviously deserving, are not what people were asking to act about.
Ok , needed to read that sentence 3 times.
Tbh, I dont think I’m not actually ignoring them, though yes, they both get under my skin. I do believe that polarisation is a big issue, that’s apart from the question who is actually right or wrong. I also think that sofar, I haven’t seen any good or “easy” solution. Our isues are unique and complex, and sometimes solutions take time. So I guess we probably have to be confident we as a society will somehow find a way, without shutting eachother out. That means understanding. Fear for change or fear for too little change, for one could be a commonality. For now, in these trying times, maybe having a Government that mostly sort of works might be a great miracle already. I’m just saying…how do we even measure or compare it all? I don’t know.
Yeah how about that? The rise of Facism is most certainly not uniquely a European problem for starters, they are growing roots everywhere There is a whole worldwide culture war going on.
The undermining of Europe has existed for a long while now actually; let’s say since after the construction of the Berlin wall. The difference now is that’s concentrated in the resurgence of the extreme right, also it seems more widespread , and the last years the efforts by US and or RF and CCP have intensified.
In a very weird way Europe should really thank the UK for the Brexit. If that event hadn’t shook Europe to it’s core, the anti-EU lobby would now have had a much stronger grip.
What about Africa? There’s a lot to gain in Africa. It’s not all war and corruption, there’s plenty of oppertunity to grow business relations. With Europe’s declining worker population and Africa’s growing population, it might be a good idea to look at emigration or outsourcing opportunities there.
Taking in Africans is political poison right now in Europe, and outsourcing local industries has never been super popular even if it makes sense.
I’m sure it will happen, Africa will develop and start taking on lots of low-end manufacturing and similar, and Europe will probably be a very good customer. But, in terms of a strategic alliance for the EU, most African nations are not a contender. South Africa maybe.
Due to the colonial history most of Africa isn’t particularly fond of Europe. And modern France being insensitive on the issue certainly didn’t help this lately.
What European countries should do is to make a big noise about how the Russia is a colonial empire. There are tens and tens of cultures living under the Russia’s fist, without rights to rule their lands and with all their natural resources extracted for the colonizing country’s use, leaving almost nothing in the colony itself.
The Russia is just the same as France used to be, and what France still partially is. It is ridiculous that anti-colonialists in Africa end up supporting the only colonial empire that has never done the least to free its colonies even to a small extent.
Very few in Africa are under any sort of illusions about Russia. They just play both sides for their own benefit.
And it is anyways China that has a much bigger influence these days in many African countries.
Very few what in Africa are under any sort of illusions about the Russia?
I would say that regarding the people ruling those countries you are either correct or mostly correct, but regarding the general public… I would be surprised if things were as you say. Europe has done nothing about it, the Russia has done a lot about it. How could they have a realistic view of the Russia when nobody is doing anything whatsoever to counter the Russian propaganda anywhere on the whole continent?
And with a “friend” like today’s usa we don’t need enemies
Yet what they all have in common primarily is that their population is majorily made up by morons. And so they all happily vote for right-wing populists preaching “nationalist interests” and “souvereignity” over common cause and blaming someone else for the problems they actively cause to enrich themselves.