Frank Furedi
Suddenly it is all too clear. There is very little that binds together the different sections of what used to be called the Western world. The ascendancy of the 2025 Trump Presidency has crystallised the trend towards the fragmentation of global westernism. America looks inward and an all too ignored Europe knows that its fragility and weakness stands exposed.
The current conflict between Europe and America is not reducible to contrasting approaches towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nor is this simply a conflict over tariffs and trade. Yes, we see the forceful assertion of American national interest but the dynamic set in play is not merely the latest version of the usual competitive positioning between different powers.
The recent revelation of the supposedly secret conversation between senior American top administration officials on Signal showed that what was at issue was not merely an ordinary security breach. The manner of the revelation and the attitudes expressed by the participants in the conversation indicated that what used to be known as the West, or the Western Alliance, has become emptied of any substantive content. The tone of contempt that the participants directed towards Europe and Europeans served as testimony to a serious cultural rupture between the two continents. No doubt sections of the European elites feel similarly towards their ‘uncouth’ American cousins in the Trump Administration.
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