Europe Is Losing
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-is-losing-fe179376
European nations have fallen far behind in economic dynamism and military clout. Will the continent that once ruled the world become a bystander to history?
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/europe-is-losing-fe179376
European nations have fallen far behind in economic dynamism and military clout. Will the continent that once ruled the world become a bystander to history?
Europe is selling its soul to Trump
https://www.ft.com/content/75609ba4-cc61-4556-8ca2-09381da721e9
Martin Sandbu:
Three specific claims can be discerned. First, since talk is cheap, why not flatter Trump? Second, what’s been achieved is better than the alternatives (kneecapping Ukraine’s defence and outright trade war). With luck, EU companies may even benefit from the still-higher tariffs put on much non-European trade. And third, policymakers will admit sotto voce that many of Europe’s pledges to Trump are just for show. Pledges of 5 per cent defence spending and huge investment and purchasing sprees in the US aren’t realistic or intended to be kept but dumb Trump bought them, so well done us.
That this stance is unprincipled is incontestable; a principled response would be to fight back. The bigger problem is that it fails proponents’ own test of pragmatism. True pragmatism would be to reduce exposure to a hostile US. What advocates call pragmatism is in fact opportunism — which is not only unsavoury but is also causing real damage, not least to Europe’s own politics.
https://www.ft.com/content/75609ba4-cc61-4556-8ca2-09381da721e9
Martin Sandbu:
Three specific claims can be discerned. First, since talk is cheap, why not flatter Trump? Second, what’s been achieved is better than the alternatives (kneecapping Ukraine’s defence and outright trade war). With luck, EU companies may even benefit from the still-higher tariffs put on much non-European trade. And third, policymakers will admit sotto voce that many of Europe’s pledges to Trump are just for show. Pledges of 5 per cent defence spending and huge investment and purchasing sprees in the US aren’t realistic or intended to be kept but dumb Trump bought them, so well done us.
That this stance is unprincipled is incontestable; a principled response would be to fight back. The bigger problem is that it fails proponents’ own test of pragmatism. True pragmatism would be to reduce exposure to a hostile US. What advocates call pragmatism is in fact opportunism — which is not only unsavoury but is also causing real damage, not least to Europe’s own politics.