Europe: A Total Break with Reality

The governing circles of Western European states are still struggling to come to terms with the shift in foreign policy and the new style of the Donald Trump administration.

Whereas the keynote of such documents was previously how to organise the fight against first the Soviet and then the Russian threat, this particular report concludes that the primary task is now to combat the Trump administration. It notes that across many Western societies, political forces favouring destruction over reform are gaining influence: the most powerful of those “wielding the axe to smash existing rules and institutions is US President Donald Trump.”

Europe is struggling to keep up with the world order shaped by Russia and China

According to the assumptions of the authors of the report, the desire for drastic change is fuelled by a widespread feeling among the population that Western political systems have failed to create the conditions for a fair society – in short, that there are no improvements in the people’s lives any longer. This kind of atmosphere of individual and collective helplessness brings forth the leaders who promise to revive a glorious past, leaders like Trump.

The authors suspect Trump of intending to establish an authoritarian system in the US (in their terms, he wants to “putinise America”). From their standpoint, Trump sees himself as having a mandate not only to reshape the US, but also to change its role in the world according to a highly subjective interpretation of national interests. Hence the plans to seize Greenland, the incursion into Venezuela, and much more that has made the world a far more perilous place. (Quoted from........

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