Yankee go home
It’s all over between us and Europe. They’re just not into us.
European leaders have long been alarmed that President Trump’s words and Twitter messages could undo a trans-Atlantic alliance that had grown stronger over seven decades. They had clung to the hope that those ties would bear up under the strain.
But in the last few days of a prestigious annual security conference in Munich, the rift between Europe and the Trump administration became open, angry and concrete, diplomats and analysts say.
Russia and China are happy about this though.
Even the normally gloomy Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, happily noted the strains, remarking that the Euro-Atlantic relationship had become increasingly “tense.”
And all because of a greedy punk from Queens.
The most visible pushback against Washington came from Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany — who delivered an unusually passionate speech — and from her defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen. They spoke about the dangers of unilateral actions by major partners without discussing the consequences with allies.
They cited Mr. Trump’s recent announcements that American troops would leave northern Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the administration’s decision to suspend one of the last remaining arms-control agreements: the ban on land-based intermediate range missiles.
…
Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke after Ms. Merkel in Munich, met stony silence when he tried to pressure allies to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, a sign of the continuing anger at Washington’s decision to scrap the deal unilaterally. European allies regard the pact as vital to European security and to the preservation of nuclear nonproliferation.
Even more, the Europeans are angry that renewed American sanctions hurt European companies far more than any American ones.
Hey, Make America Great Again. Isn’t that everyone’s goal? Europe included? Doesn’t everyone want to put our interests first?
The long-term effects of this aren’t going to go away when Trump does, either.
Imagine you’re a European country being asked to contribute troops to America’s next foreign adventure. Oh, this one seems justified, the president is an intelligent and prudent Democrat, and it’s consistent with your own foreign policy. But you don’t know if Reasonable Democratic President will get replaced in a couple of years with Donald Trump Jr., who will precipitously withdraw or otherwise screw it up. The same could be said for any new trade deals.
It’s not as though you can dismiss Trump as just a one-off. Pretty much the entire Republican party is behind him. Roughly 40% of the country enthusiastically supports him. That same 40% might support the next racist lunatic who runs, which means they only need a few percent more from people who have concerns about the racist lunatic, but are really bothered by (insert trivial flaw of Democratic candidate).
Not if it means having to wear the stupid hat.
Screechy – *groan* – I know.
Let’s face it, Trump was elected by a helluva lot of average Americans who bought the line (hook and sinker included) of “make America great again.”
So, what made America non-great, or de-greatificated? The only thing I can think of was her historic defeat in Vietnam 1965-75, with ~60,000 US dead and around 200,000 seriously injured, and God knows how many million Vietnamese.
But Trump could claim of course, that he made his own military reputation there as well. Few will not have read of the exploits of Captain Bonespurs.
I wonder how much memories of the George W. Bush administration’s dismissive “Old Europe” attitude contribute to their disillusionment? Europeans may have told themselves during the Obama years that W was an aberration, and the worst they could expect. And then…
And Reagan before that. It’s cumulative.
Bonzo Goes to Bitburg
For years I never knew the background, it was just a fun song I loved to cover in bands I was in (even before it was featured in School of Rock). “Drank in all the bars in town for an extended foreign policy” was just a great line to sing and it was one of my few lead vocal songs while playing bass. Never really thought much about it for years (I mean it’s the Ramones after all), and even though I sort of figured out the “Bonzo” reference I didn’t know about Bitburg. Most likely since I was enjoying my first attempt at college at the time *cough*cough*.
It was certainly enlightening to read the “inspiration” for the song:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzo_Goes_to_Bitburg