Thomas PM Barnett
One cannot conjure up self-importance anymore than one can delete the importance of others.
True in interpersonal relations; true in international relations
Last week Vice President JD Vance spooked Europe with a lecture on mass migrations and needing to be more open to far-right political influences — a fairly obvious attempt to school allies on the MAGA agenda (in effect, arguing, Come on in! The water’s fine!). Naturally, that sort of self-regard went over like a lead balloon. Just because the US is retreating from globalization doesn’t mean Europe has to follow. Anyway, the real message was that America is abandoning Ukraine as soon as possible, so be prepared Europe!
With that sort of messaging, Europe naturally freaks out, the Russians are delighted, and US media and experts celebrate or decry the “deathknell” of the Transatlantic bond.
It kind of amazes me that whenever Trump 2.0 makes some sort of pivoting announcement, like Vance did by saying US security concerns for the next several decades were going to be China-centric versus Euro-Russia-centric, everybody treats it like a done deal that supersedes all past, present, and future realities.
It does nothing of the sort. It is pure assertion fueled by aspiration.
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