The Odd State of the Transatlantic Alliance
Roles have been reversed.
AP (“Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’”):
A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the U.S. national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
[…]
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
l would never have imagined that we’d reach the point where Europeans were lecturing Americans on the virtues of diversity.
Rubio, for all his flaws, seems very much to want to project our traditional image in this regard. But he’s willing to say things he clearly doesn’t believe to advance his career.
Is there any remaining GOP leader/follower left with some integrity? I understand that being a politician means you make compromises sometimes but the total capitulation to Trump by everyone still surprises me a bit. Every time you have testimony in Congress by any Trump official or any appearance on TV, even by run of the mill Congress figures, they seem to feel obliged to say Trump is the greatest POTUS of all time. If its not the greatest all time POTUS claim its Trump as the best of all time at something else.
Stev
Why does Rubio bother? No one cares what Rubio says. No one has the slightest respect for him. No one thinks his word matters. Rubio has no independence, he has no judgment, he is a sock puppet with a tiny orange hand up his ass. There is no Rubio.
Europeans would do themselves and the world a favor if they just stopped inviting Trump toadies to conferences, or to give speeches, still less to engage in strategic discussions with men and women of real substance.
From one European’s viewpoint, Charles DeGaulle, the transatlantic alliance, NATO, etc. was a US device to ensure that WW III was fought in Europe rather than North America. I suspect that some Europeans have adopted DeGaulle’s views. The position articulated by Trump that the US has been the selfless protector of Europe is probably not believed by Europeans; I doubt that Trump ever actually believed it. Our enormous defense spending was in part for our protection, but it was also a wealth transfer to the military industrial complex to enrich the people in power here.
@Slugger:
Our post WW2 policy was to stop the spread of communism. Liberated Europe was poor and weak and vulnerable. So we made a deal: we will protect you from the Soviets and you will defer to us in international and especially defense issues. Selfless? No, but no one ever claimed it was. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Europe didn’t have to spend money on defense, they could instead focus on economic development and become a huge market for the US.
Mutual benefit. Emphasis on mutual, because without European allies the US cannot project force in the Middle East and North Africa. We cannot fight Iran or without European bases. We can’t defend Israel without our European bases.
We made a similar deal with Japan, and now we cannot fight China without Japan. We cannot fight Russia in the arctic without Canada and Europe. Without the allies Trump is busily turning into enemies we are, to borrow a phrase, a pitiful helpless giant.
@Michael Reynolds: Yes, that’s one way of looking at it, but not the only way. The American leader stands at a podium in Davos and tells them that without America they would be speaking German. That surely was seen as fatuous at best.
BTW I assume the flag picture above is AI since it has a disappearing flagpole that leaves the EU flag floating free. Also odd marks on the flags. And what looks like a squadron of flying saucers.
James, surely your second sentence fully negates the first sentence. The man you want Rubio to be is long gone and he’s killed his career by bending the knee to Trump.
@Michael Reynolds: I’m playing around with Bing Image Generator and other AI tools to expand access to copyright-free images. There’s a lot of public domain and Creative Commons stuff out there but there have been legal shenanigans around those, especially the latter.
@Scott F.: I don’t disagree. But he’s clearly trying to say what he really believes while trying to couch it within the confines of a completely different policy.
@Michael Reynolds: AI art is indistinguishable from real art made by humans if you just don’t care about quality.
It’s a lot like Marco Rubio, honestly. At first glance, he is shaped like a standard Republican politician of an earlier era, but if you spend any time looking at him that all falls apart.
On the slender evidence of comments on MAGA websites, it’s working a treat. I’ve seen many commenters remarking that Rubio is the best Secretary of State ever, and a much more worthy nominee in 2028 than Vance. For some reason there isn’t much love for Vance.
All of which is a bit odd when you consider Rubio is basically one of the White House’s numerous co-press secretaries. The actual Secretaries of State are Witkoff and the Kushner boy, busily shuttling from one meeting to another. Moscow (Russians) one day, Qatar (Iranians) the next, then it’s on to Brussels (bloody recalcitrant Europeans).
Over at Substack Dan Drezner has thoughts, thoughts not complimentary to Rubio. I think he has it right.
Rubio seems to be making it clear he’s not defending the West, he’s defending his definition of Western white “Christian” culture. This is New Right National Conservative stuff. Rubio’s use of the 50s phrase “Godless communist Russia” stood out for me. Seems to me Rubio’s hinting they’re now Russian Orthodox kleptocrats, so what’s not to like?