Europe Is Under Siege

The pivot to Asia began under Obama 16 years ago. Russia simply isn't viewed as a threat worth expending resources on given that China is across the Pacific. And the era of European born-and-raised foreign policy advisors like Kissinger, Albright, or Brzezinski is over. Most Americans in the 2020s either never had or lost close blood ties to Europe, so the sympathy that allowed Atlanticism to form instead of the more heavy-handed approach used in Asia doesn't exist anymore.

A lot of Europeans (from policymakers all the way down to citizens) really overestimate how Americans view ties with Europe. We have stronger soft power relations with Asia or Latin America than we do with Europe now.

If European nations like France, Germany, or the UK shift right, then when the Dems return to power they would also be cold-to-hostile to Europe.

> The American dependency has been destroyed but what fills that empty space?

This is honestly a bit crazy right? You can depend on yourselves? I can't believe I need to tell Europe that they should look into the meaning of swaraj.

> Because it doesn’t appear to me that European leaders or its citizens are very friendly towards them either

There's a reason the EU is finalizing an FTA with India [0], with the backing of France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, and others. India also has a multiple veto in the EU now thanks to France, Greece [1], and Cyprus [2]. India is also heavily investing in France's MIC leading to Safran [3], Thales [4], and Dassault [5] transferring IP to Indian SoEs and setting up shop in India.

But this inevitably gives India an indirect veto position like China and the US, because of India's hard anti-Turkiye stance aligns with Greece and Cyprus' national security needs (ambivalent/indifferent about Russia but antagonistic to Turkiye) and subsidizes a large portion of France's industrial base. Essentially, it allows India to use pressure on Greece and Cyprus to influence the EU the same way China uses pressure on Spain and Hungary to influence the EU, and the US uses the CEE and Ireland.

[0] - https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-eu-trade-talks-ent...

[1] - https://www.eliamep.gr/en/syndeontas-efkairies-o-stratigikos...

[2] - https://m.kathimerini.com.cy/gr/politiki/ptb-endeixi-dynamik...

[3] - https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/safran-india-fighter-je...

[4] - https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/news-centre/press-releases/th...

[5] - https://www.dassault-aviation.com/en/group/press/press-kits/...

They're already just nationalist folk reaching for for an example of what makes their culture the better one. Those people exist all over the world, and will always exist in some influential share, and don't change their mind based on fiddly little details like who wins a little talent search pageant they never cared about in the first place.

These people do need to be engaged with if we want international fraternity and open trade and stable military relationships, but that engagement is about finding reasons for those nationalists to think bigger to to make sure they can see benefits to pursuing those ends with weirdos half a world away, because the people half a world away are always going to look like weirdos when that's what you want to see.

It really says a lot about you, to be frank, that this heady geopolitical topic comes up and the most relevant thing you can think of to talk about is the winner of bloody Eurovision in 2014.

In fact, ties to Europe are increasingly fringe - either alt-right "White Christendom" types or "I support Scandinavian socialism" types (yes ik Scandinavia is not socialist).

A major reason cooperative Atlanticism emerged instead of a more hardline psudeo-colonial approach like the US took in Japan, SK, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand during the 1950s-90s was because some of the most important foreign policy decisionmakers in mid-late 20th century America were 1.5 or 2nd Generation immigrants from Europe - think Kissinger (born and raised in Germany), Albright (born and raised in Czechia+Britan), or Brzezinski (born and raised in Poland+USSR) - and had some amount of sympathy for individual Europeans as a result.

In the 2010s and onwards, most Americans (and especially those of us who worked on the Hill) either never had blood ties or have extremely distant blood ties to Europe.

From a soft power perspective in the US, Asia and Latin American has a stronger foothold compared to much of Europe - Korean fashion like bucket hats are becoming common, Anime has become mainstream, and Reggaton and Latin Pop like that composed by Bad Bunny or Luis Fosi (Despacito) has become mainstream.

And when European nations take a hard-right turn (eg. an AfD, RN, or Reform victory), when Democrats eventually return to power, we'd shun Europe as well because racism is still alive and well in plenty of Europe, and South Asian and Arab Americans are overrepresented in policymaking roles in both parties, and those of us who enter the space are very aware of how our ethnic peers are treated across the pond. There's a reason our parents immigrated here instead of London or Frankfurt. And that resentment bleeds into ambivalence/indifference about Europe.

There is a lot of truth and justification for Americans to be concerned about both these topics - but judging by the kind of things posted by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the web of politicians/businessmen connected to them, I would say a bit part of why Americans “hate” Europe is simply because they have been radicalized by the extremist rhetoric used by the people they follow or look up to.

Calling Europe a de facto US protectorate is also ignoring the fact that the US has a geographical advantage of being relatively separated from hostile world powers, which let it avoid most of the effects of the world wars - and that’s really pretty recent in historical terms. Is that really something America gets credit for, or is it just luck?

Finally, the US had benefited a lot from immigration but the most vocal American voices that attack Europe seem to ignore this reality, and are also clamoring for a shutdown of programs like F1, H1B, etc. - despite half the biggest American companies being founded by immigrants or their children. If you glimpse into the future, is America any more “strategically serious” than Europe? Or is it just another has been that turns to racism and isolationism to deal with its problems?