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Because, to put it mildly, Europe has always been able to rely on the US bailing it out when it mishandled some internal or external crisis. Now it's worried it

Because, to put it mildly, Europe has always been able to rely on the US bailing it out when it mishandled some internal or external crisis. Now it's worried it may not be able to take that for granted any more, and may have to take responsibility for its own actions. Frankly, that's terrifying for Europe. Trump has forcibly removed our training wheels. That said, NATO's not going anywhere. Theresa May's first action was to get the Trump to publicly reaffirm his commitment to NATO. At worst the US is going to demand other member states start paying the 2% of GDP the treaties they're signatory to actually already require.

bluetomcat 10y ago
Just like the US bailed out Europe during the "external" migrant crisis, caused by inadequate US foreign policy in the Middle East?
- leereeves 10y ago
  The migrant crisis is often attributed to the Syrian Civil War; how was the Syrian Civil War "caused by inadequate US foreign policy in the Middle East"?
  - badosu 10y ago
    You might find this bit on "Hypernormalisation" interesting: https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2016/11/10/adam-curtis-on-image-reality-suicide-bombing/ https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2016/11/10/adam-curtis-on... It has a certain sensationalistic bias but nevertheless very educative.
  - Eridrus 10y ago
    There was a lot of opportunity for the US to put an end to Assad, with a lot more credibility then elsewhere in the Middle East, but that was decided more by the US people's reluctance to get into another war. The result would probably have been as messy as Iraq was initially, but probably not as messy as what is there now.
  - fauigerzigerk 10y ago
    The refugee crisis is not just Syrian, it's also very much Afghan and Iraqi. I think the main mistake has been to consistently prioritize opposing Russia over fighting Islamism and a failure of working more eloquently towards a peaceful solution for the Palestinians. A number of socialist leaning, authoritarian but secular regimes, all cold war allies of Russia, were removed with the help of the US and the UK (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya), leaving behind chaos and civil war. Assad was the last of the bunch and he was very nearly toppled with US help before the Russians saved his ass. I have no sympathies for these regimes and dictators, but not realizing even after multiple failures that they were not the worst that could possibly happen in those societies was a terrible mistake. Continental Europe is bearing the brunt and the fascist right in the US and the UK are pouring scorn over the EU for failing to sort this mess out, even exploiting it to support their claim that anything other than bigoted nationalism of the Trump and Brexit variety is bound to fail. "Told you so!"
- chillydawg 10y ago
  That's not a crisis. World War II was a crisis.
deleted 10y ago
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BurningFrog 10y ago
Trump publicly affirms a lot of things.
VeejayRampay 10y ago
Managing to pack that much condescension for Europe in a sentence is a wonderful feat. Why do you need to be a self-hating European like that? Do you think if you cast a good enough light on the US and shit on your own enough, people from the States will somehow recognize you as one of their own?

bluetomcat 10y ago

Just like the US bailed out Europe during the "external" migrant crisis, caused by inadequate US foreign policy in the Middle East?

leereeves 10y ago
The migrant crisis is often attributed to the Syrian Civil War; how was the Syrian Civil War "caused by inadequate US foreign policy in the Middle East"?
- badosu 10y ago
  You might find this bit on "Hypernormalisation" interesting: https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2016/11/10/adam-curtis-on-image-reality-suicide-bombing/ https://philebersole.wordpress.com/2016/11/10/adam-curtis-on... It has a certain sensationalistic bias but nevertheless very educative.
- Eridrus 10y ago
  There was a lot of opportunity for the US to put an end to Assad, with a lot more credibility then elsewhere in the Middle East, but that was decided more by the US people's reluctance to get into another war. The result would probably have been as messy as Iraq was initially, but probably not as messy as what is there now.
- fauigerzigerk 10y ago
  The refugee crisis is not just Syrian, it's also very much Afghan and Iraqi. I think the main mistake has been to consistently prioritize opposing Russia over fighting Islamism and a failure of working more eloquently towards a peaceful solution for the Palestinians. A number of socialist leaning, authoritarian but secular regimes, all cold war allies of Russia, were removed with the help of the US and the UK (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya), leaving behind chaos and civil war. Assad was the last of the bunch and he was very nearly toppled with US help before the Russians saved his ass. I have no sympathies for these regimes and dictators, but not realizing even after multiple failures that they were not the worst that could possibly happen in those societies was a terrible mistake. Continental Europe is bearing the brunt and the fascist right in the US and the UK are pouring scorn over the EU for failing to sort this mess out, even exploiting it to support their claim that anything other than bigoted nationalism of the Trump and Brexit variety is bound to fail. "Told you so!"
chillydawg 10y ago
That's not a crisis. World War II was a crisis.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

BurningFrog 10y ago

Trump publicly affirms a lot of things.

VeejayRampay 10y ago

Managing to pack that much condescension for Europe in a sentence is a wonderful feat. Why do you need to be a self-hating European like that? Do you think if you cast a good enough light on the US and shit on your own enough, people from the States will somehow recognize you as one of their own?