With its woeful trade deal, Europe prostrated itself before the president. We need a leader who will tell him where to shove it, says Guardian Europe columnist Alexander Hurst
It does explain why the countries still cower in front of the US. The EU at large still is a lapdog for the Americans.
There is nothing faulty about it.
France is the only western country that has not completely succumbed to a vassal state.
But the economy of all western countries has been subverted to American interests with the begining of the Marshal plan.
There are no contracts stipulating the conditions of our countries vassalage to the US as if it were medieval times. So yes we can be all from puppets to vassals to lapdogs. They’re not mutually exclusive nor do they have to stay the same.
European countries have repeatedly done things that went against US interests.
Can you name examples? As far as I know European countries have not condemned America’s wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the broken up Yugoslavia, etc. I cannot recall a single war or coup that European states sanctioned the US for. In the larger picture the European states also were not independent and neutral during the cold war but stood on the side of the American Empire. Hell to this day they’re part of NATO, the military arm of the American hegemony. The sole exception was De Gaulle who wanted France as it’s own great power.
Furthermore America holds a cultural hegemony over the western world with its media and manufactured consent production that is spread across the world through globalization.
You are the one who asked for examples. This happened 50 years ago, and Palme was murdered 40 years ago. Of course a single mans actions won’t echo forever just like orange mans actions will not inspire bigotry forever.
And how is it an example when they still ended up an US puppet?
Your last sentence is exactly the point. It’s a single man’s words, not the actions of a nation. On a national level no independence from the US can be achieved.
Of course, European states were not neutral during the Cold War.
For some weird reason they wanted not to become Russian vassals (and Eastern European countries followed suit as soon as they could).
But: being aligned with the US does not mean you have to be subservient or bound in any way. As you mentioned, France even left NATO for a time.
Vassal states usually cannot do that (see again the Cold War for examples: Poles, Czech and Hungarians were very much not allowed to break free from Moscow).
We may be fighting over semantics here, but I think this is important.
Are you member of a club you can leave anytime? NATO and EU are such clubs. Or are you bound to a pact where you get violently suppressed the moment you want to quit? Warsaw Pact was such a thing.
This is a hypocritical take.
You’re specifically using the cold war as an example and claim that US vassalage is better and not actually vassalage compared to the Soviet Union. That just isn’t true.
Also you cannot just leave NATO. Leaving the EU is hard, but at least still possible.
For explanation please look at the elections results of the past decades of any western country. You’d get a whopping 80-95% across the board for pro-NATO parties.
If a country were to somehow still leave NATO they’d likely face a quick invasion unless they lower themselves to ally with Russia and get guarantees.
As for the Cold War politics worked differently on both sides. The American hegemony is less implicit but still exist through it’s prevalent cultural hegemony. Consent is manufactured to stay aligned with the US up to this day. You can see this influence in official government policies, in the mass media and in the education system.
Also you cannot just leave NATO. Leaving the EU is hard, but at least still possible. For explanation please look at the elections results of the past decades of any western country.You’d get a whopping 80-95% across the board for pro-NATO parties.
“You CANNOT just leave NATO ! Because you do not WANT to leave NATO !” is … quite a galaxy-brain take.
Yes, manufactured consent is unfortunately rather indistinguishable from people having their own opinions, and if any opinion can be “manufactured”, you get to circular reasoning like “your not leaving NATO proves that you are actually forbidden from leaving”.
Because the political system doesn’t allow for it.
I’m sure you don’t want me to repeat myself, but it’s not possible to just elect a party who would want that. Look at the election results of past decades. You’ll see the vast majority of any parties that make it into parliaments are pro-NATO. You cannot democratically beat that.
It does explain why the countries still cower in front of the US. The EU at large still is a lapdog for the Americans. There is nothing faulty about it.
moving your goalposts? “puppet” implies remote control and a lack of agency. a lapdog however has agency.
anywho. European countries have repeatedly done things that went against US interests. Heck, France even left NATO for a time.
France is very much the exception that proves the rule. They always argue for European independence and are almost always outvoted by everyone else.
France is the only western country that has not completely succumbed to a vassal state. But the economy of all western countries has been subverted to American interests with the begining of the Marshal plan. There are no contracts stipulating the conditions of our countries vassalage to the US as if it were medieval times. So yes we can be all from puppets to vassals to lapdogs. They’re not mutually exclusive nor do they have to stay the same.
Can you name examples? As far as I know European countries have not condemned America’s wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the broken up Yugoslavia, etc. I cannot recall a single war or coup that European states sanctioned the US for. In the larger picture the European states also were not independent and neutral during the cold war but stood on the side of the American Empire. Hell to this day they’re part of NATO, the military arm of the American hegemony. The sole exception was De Gaulle who wanted France as it’s own great power. Furthermore America holds a cultural hegemony over the western world with its media and manufactured consent production that is spread across the world through globalization.
Sweden condemned the us so harshly for Vietnam, comparing them to nazi, Soviet and apartheid war crimes, that they cancelled all diplomatic relations.
Yeah and where did they end up? Still in the EU and today NATO.
You are the one who asked for examples. This happened 50 years ago, and Palme was murdered 40 years ago. Of course a single mans actions won’t echo forever just like orange mans actions will not inspire bigotry forever.
And how is it an example when they still ended up an US puppet?
Your last sentence is exactly the point. It’s a single man’s words, not the actions of a nation. On a national level no independence from the US can be achieved.
Are you trolling?
You quoted someone saying
And replied
Which I did.
You have not named a single country that ultimately broke with the US. They’re still subservient to it.
Why are you so keen on defending the American Empire and its puppets?
Of course, European states were not neutral during the Cold War. For some weird reason they wanted not to become Russian vassals (and Eastern European countries followed suit as soon as they could).
But: being aligned with the US does not mean you have to be subservient or bound in any way. As you mentioned, France even left NATO for a time. Vassal states usually cannot do that (see again the Cold War for examples: Poles, Czech and Hungarians were very much not allowed to break free from Moscow).
We may be fighting over semantics here, but I think this is important. Are you member of a club you can leave anytime? NATO and EU are such clubs. Or are you bound to a pact where you get violently suppressed the moment you want to quit? Warsaw Pact was such a thing.
This is a hypocritical take. You’re specifically using the cold war as an example and claim that US vassalage is better and not actually vassalage compared to the Soviet Union. That just isn’t true.
Also you cannot just leave NATO. Leaving the EU is hard, but at least still possible. For explanation please look at the elections results of the past decades of any western country. You’d get a whopping 80-95% across the board for pro-NATO parties.
If a country were to somehow still leave NATO they’d likely face a quick invasion unless they lower themselves to ally with Russia and get guarantees.
As for the Cold War politics worked differently on both sides. The American hegemony is less implicit but still exist through it’s prevalent cultural hegemony. Consent is manufactured to stay aligned with the US up to this day. You can see this influence in official government policies, in the mass media and in the education system.
“You CANNOT just leave NATO ! Because you do not WANT to leave NATO !” is … quite a galaxy-brain take.
Yes, manufactured consent is unfortunately rather indistinguishable from people having their own opinions, and if any opinion can be “manufactured”, you get to circular reasoning like “your not leaving NATO proves that you are actually forbidden from leaving”.
This is pure semantics.
If you can never vote for leaving NATO, then you factually cannot leave it.
why would i not be able to do that? you underestimate the amount of political freedoms we have.
Because the political system doesn’t allow for it. I’m sure you don’t want me to repeat myself, but it’s not possible to just elect a party who would want that. Look at the election results of past decades. You’ll see the vast majority of any parties that make it into parliaments are pro-NATO. You cannot democratically beat that.