Originally appeared on strategic-culture.org
“I don’t care about Europe,” declared US President Donald Trump this week during his White House cabinet’s first meeting of the new year.
The American president probably revealed more about the true nature of US-European relations than he intended.
Trump was speaking in the context of American military involvement with Europe, as well as trade and other issues. He was reiterating the tedious mantra that the US is allegedly being “taken advantage of” by European allies by not spending more on their military budgets.
It was the usual rambling, barely articulate fallacy from Trump who portrays the inherent military profligacy of American corporate capitalism not as a destructive vice, but as a supposed virtuous cause of “protection” for allies and the rest of the world. In short, delusional American exceptionalism.
But it was Trump’s bluntly stated contempt for European allies that was notable. In a quip to a question about his reported unpopularity in Europe, the president said he didn’t care what Europeans think. A few seconds later, in a betrayal of his arrant egotistical state of mind, Trump turned around and claimed that he would be popular if he stood in an election in Europe!
Ironically, though, perhaps we should be grateful to Trump for his brash outspokenness. By dissing Europe with such contemptuous disregard, he lays bare the true face of Washington’s relations with the old continent.
Past American presidents have been adept at presenting the transatlantic connection as a putative “strategic partnership” – as most clearly manifested by the US-led NATO military alliance. Trump’s former Defense Secretary James Mattis, who resigned in protest over policies, was of this conventional transatlantic mould. Mattis repeatedly talked up the importance of maintaining strong bonds with allies.
However, decades of transatlantic rhetoric has often served to conceal the real relationship between Washington and Europe. The reality is the Europeans are not partners. They are vassals.
Successive European governments and the European Union have continually permitted their countries to serve as bases for American military forces, including in the past, nuclear weapons pointed at Russia. Those missiles may return to European soil, if the US walks away from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty as it threatens to do under Trump.
The subordinate European governments have also dutifully facilitated American militarism by affording a multilateral pseudo legal cover for Washington’s imperialist wars. For example, European nations sent troops to augment US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq thereby giving criminal genocidal ventures a veneer of legitimacy.
Ironically, in his remarks to his cabinet this week Trump scoffed at European nations for sending “only 100 troops” to Afghanistan and Iraq. He also mentioned Syria, illustrating how rampantly arrogant US criminality is.
So, Trump is berating Europeans for not devoting more of their economic resources to match the American pathological addiction to militarism; for not paying more for US military occupation of European countries; and for not sending more troops to join in American overseas criminal aggressions.
Previous American presidents would be a little more circumspect in disguising Washington’s tyrannical relationship with Europe. But Trump is too self-centered and boorishly transactional in his view. The whole self-indulgent pretense of American chivalry and protection is shredded, albeit unwittingly.
Trump told Europe this week he does not care a jot about the continent and supposed US allies. With such contempt, European nations need to wake up to the reality of charting their own independence from Washington, and in particular pursuing a genuine continental partnership with Russia.
Washington’s arrogance is perhaps most starkly expressed by the Trump administration threatening European states with sanctions if they continue building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia. Russia is a natural strategic partner for Europe, especially in terms of economical supply of gas and oil fuel.
The issue of energy supply and demand epitomizes so much else about the relation between Europe and Russia, and the US. The latter is something of an imposter and is foisting its selfish interests on others, whether in energy trade or in military affairs. We have also seen this with regard to Trump tearing up the Iran nuclear deal and punishing Europe for upholding that international treaty.
Trump could not have stated the reality of American disregard for European interests any more brazenly. He doesn’t give a fig.
At the end of last year, the European Union voted to renew economic sanctions on Russia for another six months. Those sanctions are based largely on anti-Russian ideological claims made by Washington and its NATO partners over a host of spurious issues, including conflict in Ukraine and the preposterous fantasy of Russia interfering in elections. Again, the vassal position of Europe is revealed by the fact that it is European economies, not the American economy, that have incurred self-defeating damage from the sanctions on Russia.
European governments need to adopt something of Trump’s “America First” policy and begin putting the interests of their people first. Europe must repudiate Washington’s antagonism and militarism towards Russia. Many of the incumbent European governments seem incapable of finding the necessary political will to be independent from Washington. That is partly why there is such a phenomenal rise in popular discontent with the European Union and establishment politicians. The powers-that-be are unresponsive and unrepresentative of popular interests and needs, creating further backlash to the establishment institutions.
Europe needs to stop being a lackey of Washington. After Trump’s blatant contempt this week, Europe has no excuse or justification to continue debasing itself as an American vassal.
“…European governments need to adopt something of Trump’s “America First” policy and begin putting the interests of their people first…”
Interests of their people? [embarassed chortle] “America First” is intended to put the interests of American oligarchs first – so they can provide more menial jobs so the little people can pay their taxes and buy more plastic shit.
Honestly… where do people get these weird ideas about the U.S.?
I suppose the author of this opinion piece would rather have another US president continue the obscenely high cost of maintaining a huge military presence in Europe and elsewhere in the world. So damn what that Mr. Trump speaks his mind. Little, slack jawed, mealy mouth, full of bulls*it and empty promises politicians are offended by this type of talk and should be. Any American who has ever visited another NATO country, as a tourist, would I wager, grudgingly admit that the people DO HAVE A GENERALLY BETTER STANDARD OF LIVING than back in the US. This is possible, in a small expensive way, because the US does play world policeman. Enough is enough. I say redeploy most (about 80%) of the US military back stateside. This insane policy cannot continue while there are gigantic, festering problems domestically that need fixing.
I suppose the author of this opinion piece would rather have another US president continue the obscenely high cost of maintaining a huge military presence in Europe and elsewhere in the world.
Almost Nobody (except for Poland and now the Ukraine) asked the US to establish military bases in their countries, Americans think the world owes them for occupying their lands, arrogant lot.
he is right of course- europe’s been led up the creek and not been given a paddle by the hapless and clueless and imitation neo-conservatives in brussels. uk allowed a specific issue to be decided in a true democratic fashion and voted leave, leave before it’s too late to save. the rest of the sheeps are as always sheeps and don’t dare to break rank and thus the eu will continue on its way to bankruptcy and financial ruin – just like the more than moronic states
Another anti Trump hit piece pay by the INTERNATIONAL ZIONIST BANKING MAFIA.
lots of people are eating popcorn of late, and they ARE NOT zionists Lmao.
You are our vassals and we don’t care about you.
Yea. And so? Europeans dont even care if lying refugee adults pretend to be children and get sent to school with their own children. They dont care if their women get raped and murdered. Most certainly they wont care if the us uses it and throws garbage on it.
No I too would be carelessly dismissive of such a large group of beta cucks. They blew their balls off in ww1 and 2. Theyve got very few men of worth left. They died for pointless wars culled by their suicidal elites.
Europe is the Zionist dream beta society that they plan for the US and everyone else. Europe should be burned to the ground and its Zionist rulers hanged. Then let the indigenous tribal peoples make the land green and lush and live along side nature once again as it did 4,000 years ago. https://naturalnews.com/
Europe, Russia, and the US should and can get along. It’s the Jews stoking the divisions who are the problem. Russia and Europe should finish dejudification and the US should start on it, until the planet is Jew free.
Russia should start dropping the IAF fighters attacking Syria. This will be a wake up call to the US and Europe that their Jew ridden governments are selling out their own people to the Jew vermin. And that their criminally insane Jew world order hegemony project is a failure and mistake. And that the solution is getting rid of Jews and improving relations with Russia, not victimization of Russia.
100% right. Russia and Europe and the US have the same enemies. And until Jews change their own ways permanently, humans have both the right to self defense and to counter Jewish moves against them. Perhaps one day Jews will repent of their ways. Until that day comes, we all have the same enemies trying to hurt us. http://ihr.org/ https://naturalnews.com/
Another crybaby. Europe have had 15 years to show up a profile. Washington even asked Europe to challenge US decisions as no one likes an arselicker running in their behind, but no. Sad, but Trump is right again.
A Soviet-born Israeli politologist and historian Yakov Kedmi, who is rather popular in Russia, has stated that Trump isn’t interested in spending money on countries other than his own and on organizations that don’t directly improve the USAs economic standing. That would include USA spending money on NATO, because the reason for NATOs existence is long gone. Trump doesn’t want to protect Europe from anyone, and if Europe feels threatened by anyone, they need to start spending money on OWN military power as opposed to rely on NATO which primarily means US military. Trump is right 100%: one look at military forces of any European country will show a total inability to respond to the much-trumpeted threat of Russia. If Russia was as much a threat as NATO portrays them to be, the armed forces of European nations wouldn’t be in such a sad state. NATO is a very expensive organization to run. Trump also doesn’t want to spend money propping up totally worthless client regimes. USSR has glaringly displayed to everyone that spending money on client regimes, especially such brazen anti-local ones like one in Ukraine, has long cost more than they are worth. Wasting money on protecting the terrorists which Obama, Clinton, Bush and the rest of the “Deep state” are so fond of isn’t what Trump thinks is effective or good for US image in the world. Given how moronically open the support of Obama and his cabinet for terrorists had been, Trump has cut that support and is about to withdraw troops from Syria. He doesn’t want to clean up the mess others had created, despite them being his countrymen. His open contempt of Europe is his message to the current European “leaders”: I don’t want to have a bunch of weaklings to deal with and protect at my cost.” He is right. German, French and British leaders had long been openly taking it and sucking up to USA. Italians had been more balanced. The rest were geostrategic liabilities, both economically and militarily. Economic prospects are the same thing: Corporate money are one thing, but Euro countries have big national budget deficits and national debts are very big too. Thus Trump wanting to do business with those that actually have money from a STRONG economy, as opposed to inflated bubbles.
So from that all that can be said about Trumps opinion is this: he has EVERY reason to state what he did, and noone can argue those points, because they are completely true.
EU countries (and beyond) are just vassal states and statelets…their peoples living in an illusion of living standards like in the 80ies/ 90ies. The armies are there to protect the leaders and the ruling scum from their own people/aborigines, make sure the “settlers” have space to expand unpunished (take a look at Thomas P.M. Barnett) and not to protect the country from an intruder (just like the Romanian army under Ceausescu). Nothing will change until the Merkels, Macrons, Mays, Junkers, Vučićs, Sanchezs and so on start hanging high or burning. As long as the armed part of the “natives” protects the “ruling scum” as long nothing will change.
We know that. I simply states what Trump thinks of Europe and why. What matters is the current state of affairs.
When Trump says its European vassals are not spending enough on their own defense, what he really says is that they are not ordering enough American weapons. Just look at Saudi Arabia. It can’t defend itself if its very survival depended on it, but it buys shitloads of American weapons. And thus Trump defends Saudi Arabia, even when it would blatantly murder and chop up a whole convention of journalists in plain sight.
I reckon even these harsh words won’t cause Europe’s elites to reappraise their vassal status with the US. They’ll just rationalize it away as Trump being a aberration and hope that in two years time another democrat will get elected and everything will be back to normal. Just two more years of playing nice and nodding yes to The Donald.
Leftists pushing cultural Marxism are deluded and evil. Europe has embraced that nihilistic and doomed worldview. Since they refuse to reconsider, they deserve to experience the destructive consequences of that choice, period. This website is full of shit.