For Britain, the consolidation of the Continent into a single bloc was a perpetual nightmare. Britain was militarily weak compared to the Continent as a whole and saw Napoleon, for example, as an existential threat. Had he been able to impose a stable system, dominated by Paris, on the Continent, the economic and military force he could have mustered would have overwhelmed Britain’s naval defenses in the not-too-long run and compelled Britain to accommodate itself to French hegemony.
Turning to America and non-European places instead of Europe abandons the long-held goal of preventing Europe from being controlled by a single power, the author says.
But isn't NATO with a strong America and non-EU Britain as major member states a way to thwart the rise of the proto-empire EU into an actual empire to achieve that long-held goal?
America has the same long-term goal--if not held as long as Britain--of not wanting a single power to control Europe, lest it be hostile to America. Economic and security ties would help both of us.
I don't know what happens despite the Brexit vote more than three years ago that told Britain to leave the European Union. It seems like Remainers and the British Supreme Court want to act as agents of the proto-empire.
