For several decades, the EU has ignored power politics and concentrated on economic integration. But over the past fifteen years, as authoritarian regimes have come to power in many parts of the world and U.S. leadership has declined, geopolitics has come back with a vengeance. With its weak structures, EU foreign policy is struggling to adjust to the new reality.
I think the Europeans just don't like where we want to lead them. It makes them uncomfortable to be asked to defend the West against enemies. Europe, the author says, should avoid the "rift" between America and China as if the Orwellian aggressive police state is no worse than the free America that has defended Europe since 1917. "Europe" (the EU) sees no reason to get involved in that if it can simply trade with both freely.
Really, bask in their freaking high-minded, sophisticated nuance.
And the "European" solution to the mythical problem of the lack of American leadership is of course strengthening the proto-imperial EU structure in another ratcheting up of that effort to pry off the prefix. "Trump," who is described as the "final blow" against European sense of innocence in a hard world (oh, please spare me) is just another of the interchangeable reasons the EU puts forward to become the multi-national autocratic empire it is intended to be.
Have no doubt, a "strategically autonomous" unified Europe will not be a world power no matter what it says. I think it will have sufficient power to bungle a war with a small power like revolution-wracked Libya but more importantly will be able to suppress any internal revolt that wants to follow Britain's example. We have democratic friends in Europe. But politically unified Europe will not be our friend.
Act accordingly.
NOTE: I fixed a sentence that I oddly stopped writing mid-sentence. Bad week to quit smoking ...
