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I have never watched Mad Men, but there is this meme where two men are in an elevator. The first says, "I feel bad for you." The second says, "I don't think about you at all."
If you had two stickers, one labeled US and one UK/EU, which sticker would you put on the first man, and which on the second?
On the first thought, maybe you'd put the US sticker on the guy who says, "I don't think about you at all." Because after all, the US is a superpower that just Leeroy Jenkins its way through foreign affairs and seems to have grown increasingly disinterested in what Europeans have to say about it.
When people are polled, however, something interesting emerges: https://ecfr.eu/publication/how-trump-is-making-china-great-again-and-what-it-means-for-europe/
Here is one poll question: Generally speaking, thinking about the US, which of the following best reflects your view on what they are to your country?
In Switzerland, 21% of people view the US as "An adversary—with which we are in conflict" compared to just 8% as, "An ally—that shares our interests and values." They seem to be on the extreme for Europe. The UK seems to be on the other (European) extreme: 25% view the US as "An ally—that shares our interests and values." The EU10 is in the middle at 16% seeing the US as an ally.
The reverse was polled to Americans: Generally speaking, thinking about the EU which of the following best reflects your view on who they are to your country?
The total for the US was 40% who would agree that the EU is "An ally—that shares our interests and values." This percentage is higher in Harris voters than Trump voters, but importantly, Trump voters were still at 30%, which is higher than even the UK's rosy view of the US compared to the rest of Europe.
Another interesting question is: Which of the following best reflects your view on the EU's global standing?
46% of Americans said, "The EU is a power that can deal on equal terms with global powers, such as the US or China." Comparatively, EU10, Switzerland, and UK were all in the 30s of percentage points. There seems to be a gap between how important/capable the US thinks Europe is compared to Europe's self-perceptions.
The pattern emerges that people in the US are more likely to think that the people of Europe are both capable and share our interests and values, while the people of Europe disagree. I don't know who is right, but I think it is important for both groups to be aware of this emerging dynamic.
Europe is forced to think about the US because it's the 400 pound baby throwing a tantrum. We'd all rather not have to do this but it's a bit hard when you go and poke the hornet's nest of Iran when we're the ones who bear the brunt of the conseuqneces. Europe + Canada need to get together and collectively tell the US it's grounded until it learns to behave: meaning punitive taxes on its tech companies etc; funny how Trump likes tariffs but the US threw a tantrum at the WTO last week because the WTO tariff free regime for services which had existed for 30 years was about to expire and the US wanted the clause forbidding tariffs on digital goods to continue indefinitely, see here: https://www.ft.com/content/ac711230-3ee6-467f-824a-3a74d356076c?syn-25a6b1a6=1
Iran played their hand very well when they announced they'd start targeting militarily 18 US companies they believed were helping the US war effort including their top finance and tech firms. If Europe did the same and started talking about how if unless the US started behaving very quickly then senior executives from Meta and Goldman etc. would be arrested and tried as accessories for their government's behaviour if they stepped foot onto EU territories (or alternatively these companies openly and formally denounce US actions) we'd get somewhere. These sorts of people have so much money that the true way to hit them is to restrict their global mobility. If Jamie Dimon gets told he can't visit or transit via Europe without risking arrest that hurts him a lot more than fining him like a million or something and is more likely to get him to put pressure on the US government to beahve.
We don’t think much about Europe because post British Empire, your will to do anything other than issue bland statements and hand wring about problems has waned to the point that Europe is impotent. You won’t arrest the heads of US companies if they come to your shores. You know it and so do we.
Yes, unfortunately Europe is totally cucked I agree. Europe talks a good game on how the Americans are bad (whether in relation to this war or more generally) but then doesn't back it up with actual action. Spain is showing some minor signs of developing a backbone, hopefully other countries quickly follow suit.
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