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Loss of American favor? Since the cold war Eastern European immigrants have had an outsized influence on U.S. foreign policy. Th U.S. has been playing off the

by kloper 4y ago

Loss of American favor? Since the cold war Eastern European immigrants have had an outsized influence on U.S. foreign policy. Th U.S. has been playing off the Eastern European countries against the Western since the fall of the Soviet Union. This is not exactly new. If Eastern European countries are so unhappy, perhaps France/Germany/Austria/Italy should form a new EU. We are tired of paying while being bashed for it.

lo_zamoyski 4y ago
> Loss of American favor? Since the cold war Eastern European immigrants have had an outsized influence on U.S. foreign policy. Who are these immigrants? Jewish immigrants from EE? That would sooner mean negotiating favorable terms for Israel and US-Israel relations. Aside from Zbigniew Brzezinski, I don't see any of this "outsized" Eastern European influence on Cold War US foreign policy that you seem to be insinuating. Indeed, the insufficiency of influence has historically been a conspicuous concern in Polish foreign policy and diplomatic circles (recall how Radek Sikorski was caught on tape complaining about Poland giving the US proverbial blowjobs like some third rate vassal). At best, during the Cold War, the oppressed people of Central/Eastern Europe had a common foe in the Soviets. It was W. Europe that received a massive influx of US capital and investment for reconstruction and defense because it had an interest in doing so (feel free to call this sort of "favor" an imperialist power move; the fact remains). > If Eastern European countries are so unhappy, perhaps France/Germany/Austria/Italy should form a new EU. We are tired of paying while being bashed for it. What a strange evasive maneuver. Crying out in pain as you beat down someone else? Who is getting bashed here? It's one thing to criticize political developments in a fellow member EU country, it is another to misrepresent what's actually happening to justify coercive policies. I can smell the patronizing presuppositions already. "Why, those ungrateful, uppity C/E Europeans!" If those countries want to form a new EU instead of doing a little bit of reflection or self-criticism, so be it (I wouldn't bet too much on the common unity of that motley crew of countries, though: Austria has signaled a greater, and I would say historical interest in the East with its membership in the TSI, and Italy isn't exactly in love with Germany, either).

by kloper 4y ago

lo_zamoyski 4y ago

> Loss of American favor? Since the cold war Eastern European immigrants have had an outsized influence on U.S. foreign policy. Who are these immigrants? Jewish immigrants from EE? That would sooner mean negotiating favorable terms for Israel and US-Israel relations. Aside from Zbigniew Brzezinski, I don't see any of this "outsized" Eastern European influence on Cold War US foreign policy that you seem to be insinuating. Indeed, the insufficiency of influence has historically been a conspicuous concern in Polish foreign policy and diplomatic circles (recall how Radek Sikorski was caught on tape complaining about Poland giving the US proverbial blowjobs like some third rate vassal). At best, during the Cold War, the oppressed people of Central/Eastern Europe had a common foe in the Soviets. It was W. Europe that received a massive influx of US capital and investment for reconstruction and defense because it had an interest in doing so (feel free to call this sort of "favor" an imperialist power move; the fact remains). > If Eastern European countries are so unhappy, perhaps France/Germany/Austria/Italy should form a new EU. We are tired of paying while being bashed for it. What a strange evasive maneuver. Crying out in pain as you beat down someone else? Who is getting bashed here? It's one thing to criticize political developments in a fellow member EU country, it is another to misrepresent what's actually happening to justify coercive policies. I can smell the patronizing presuppositions already. "Why, those ungrateful, uppity C/E Europeans!" If those countries want to form a new EU instead of doing a little bit of reflection or self-criticism, so be it (I wouldn't bet too much on the common unity of that motley crew of countries, though: Austria has signaled a greater, and I would say historical interest in the East with its membership in the TSI, and Italy isn't exactly in love with Germany, either).