4 ms·

It's unfortunate that this was the take by EU politicians when everyone's favorite villain, Trump, was telling the EU nations to increase its NATO spending to t

It's unfortunate that this was the take by EU politicians when everyone's favorite villain, Trump, was telling the EU nations to increase its NATO spending to the 2% guideline and was telling Germany to get off its Russian gas addiction or face the consequences. [1] Well, Germany (and its politicians: shown laughing at Trump in the video) are now paying the consequences of blindly walking into yet another trade deal with yet another autocratic power. [2] You'd think playing host to the horrors of WWII would have taught Germany a lesson or two of the consequences of such powers but no, it's business as usual. [3] The naivety of the EU in global politics would be laughable if it wasn't directly funding the artillery barrages and murder of more than a hundred children now by Russia. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfJv9QYrlwg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfJv9QYrlwg [2] https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3148374/angela-merkel-touts-eu-china-investment-deal-likely-last https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3148374/an... [3] https://stopgas.org/ https://stopgas.org/

Yoric 5y ago
I had several paragraphs to try and explain how scary Trump was for the rest of the world. I've deleted them because I don't want to enter an endless debate. Just know that, for dozens of reasons, in Europe, the Trump administration was seen as irrational and dangerous to his allies. These views were shared by both Progressives and Conservatives, throughout Europe, even to a large extent in the UK. In comparison, Putin was seen as more rational, hence a more measurable danger. It is now clear that the latter assessment was wrong. Regarding the former, the jury is still out.
- syshum 5y ago
  Both assessments were clearly wrong, Out side of Harse words on twitter I would love to have anyone point to actual policy positions / actions that the Trump Administration took that put the world or the EU in greater danger?
  - Yoric 5y ago
    In immediate danger? Absolutely not. This was an attempt to predict future behavior of Donald Trump based on past/present behavior, taking into account the possibility of Donald Trump remaining president for a second mandate. If you recall, as seen from Europe, Donald Trump was: - exhibiting a number of traits typically attributed to fascism (using Umberto Eco's classification, I count a perfect 14/14 for Trump, based on speeches I've seen him deliver); - friendly relationships with many authoritarian/dictatorship governments (including Putin's Russia), hostile relationships/threats towards democracies (including most of the EU); - a tendency to betray allies and leave them to die (I'm thinking of Kurds, but abandoning Afghanistan is a joint Trump-Biden venture); - generally, a strong tendency to use international relationships as a pedestal to cater to the subset of his supporters that had no clue about international relationships and cheered him whenever he rattled his saber, threatened his allies and started a trade war that absolutely no sense. While none of these points definitely meant that Donald Trump was dangerous to the EU, at some point, EU leaders started wondering exactly on which side the US were. They would have been crazy not to.
    - syshum 5y ago
      >>- exhibiting a number of traits typically attributed to fascism Only if you actively misunderstand, or more likely only listen to selected clips by mainstream media >>- friendly relationships with many authoritarian/dictatorship governments (including Putin's Russia), hostile relationships/threats towards democracies (including most of the EU); Trump foreign policy was returning America to what it should have been all along, Free Trade with all nations, entangling alliances with none. Heeding the words of our first president. Clearly he could not just pull out of decades of entangling alliances but he was signalling a desire to reduce our entangling alliances, and increase our trade. I support that, and I can see why the EU would worry about that but not for the reasons you seem to think >>- a tendency to betray allies and leave them to die You believe that started with Trump? That has been a mainstay of US foreign policy at least since WWII, it was not even the first time we fucked over the Kurds. As to Afghanistan, I lay the blame for that about 80% at the feet of biden and 20% at trump, The pull out could have been done ALOT better, and I think a Trump administration would have done a better job of it. I 100% support the decision to leave. >>- generally, a strong tendency to use international relationships as a pedestal to cater to the subset of his supporters that had no clue about international relationships and cheered him whenever he rattled his saber, threatened his allies and started a trade war that absolutely no sense. I disagreed with the Tariffs, however I absolutely supported his desire to increase our manufacturing base in the US, and hold other nations accountable for their abuse of trade policy at the expense of the US which has been going on since at least Bill Clinton if not longer. The US has and continues to be asked to "sacrifice" our prosperity for the good of the world while other nations refuse to do even a fraction of what the US does, and even when we meet the goals often the rest of our "partners" like the EU pants the US as a bully, as evil, as the problem. Frankly we need a president to stand up for the US. >EU leaders started wondering exactly on which side the US were The side of the US citizen, first time in a long time the US President stood up for the US Citizen, not global corporations, or globalism

Yoric 5y ago

I had several paragraphs to try and explain how scary Trump was for the rest of the world. I've deleted them because I don't want to enter an endless debate. Just know that, for dozens of reasons, in Europe, the Trump administration was seen as irrational and dangerous to his allies. These views were shared by both Progressives and Conservatives, throughout Europe, even to a large extent in the UK. In comparison, Putin was seen as more rational, hence a more measurable danger. It is now clear that the latter assessment was wrong. Regarding the former, the jury is still out.

syshum 5y ago
Both assessments were clearly wrong, Out side of Harse words on twitter I would love to have anyone point to actual policy positions / actions that the Trump Administration took that put the world or the EU in greater danger?
- Yoric 5y ago
  In immediate danger? Absolutely not. This was an attempt to predict future behavior of Donald Trump based on past/present behavior, taking into account the possibility of Donald Trump remaining president for a second mandate. If you recall, as seen from Europe, Donald Trump was: - exhibiting a number of traits typically attributed to fascism (using Umberto Eco's classification, I count a perfect 14/14 for Trump, based on speeches I've seen him deliver); - friendly relationships with many authoritarian/dictatorship governments (including Putin's Russia), hostile relationships/threats towards democracies (including most of the EU); - a tendency to betray allies and leave them to die (I'm thinking of Kurds, but abandoning Afghanistan is a joint Trump-Biden venture); - generally, a strong tendency to use international relationships as a pedestal to cater to the subset of his supporters that had no clue about international relationships and cheered him whenever he rattled his saber, threatened his allies and started a trade war that absolutely no sense. While none of these points definitely meant that Donald Trump was dangerous to the EU, at some point, EU leaders started wondering exactly on which side the US were. They would have been crazy not to.
  - syshum 5y ago
    >>- exhibiting a number of traits typically attributed to fascism Only if you actively misunderstand, or more likely only listen to selected clips by mainstream media >>- friendly relationships with many authoritarian/dictatorship governments (including Putin's Russia), hostile relationships/threats towards democracies (including most of the EU); Trump foreign policy was returning America to what it should have been all along, Free Trade with all nations, entangling alliances with none. Heeding the words of our first president. Clearly he could not just pull out of decades of entangling alliances but he was signalling a desire to reduce our entangling alliances, and increase our trade. I support that, and I can see why the EU would worry about that but not for the reasons you seem to think >>- a tendency to betray allies and leave them to die You believe that started with Trump? That has been a mainstay of US foreign policy at least since WWII, it was not even the first time we fucked over the Kurds. As to Afghanistan, I lay the blame for that about 80% at the feet of biden and 20% at trump, The pull out could have been done ALOT better, and I think a Trump administration would have done a better job of it. I 100% support the decision to leave. >>- generally, a strong tendency to use international relationships as a pedestal to cater to the subset of his supporters that had no clue about international relationships and cheered him whenever he rattled his saber, threatened his allies and started a trade war that absolutely no sense. I disagreed with the Tariffs, however I absolutely supported his desire to increase our manufacturing base in the US, and hold other nations accountable for their abuse of trade policy at the expense of the US which has been going on since at least Bill Clinton if not longer. The US has and continues to be asked to "sacrifice" our prosperity for the good of the world while other nations refuse to do even a fraction of what the US does, and even when we meet the goals often the rest of our "partners" like the EU pants the US as a bully, as evil, as the problem. Frankly we need a president to stand up for the US. >EU leaders started wondering exactly on which side the US were The side of the US citizen, first time in a long time the US President stood up for the US Citizen, not global corporations, or globalism