Europeans are tumbling to the fact that in this anarchic world, America is the closest thing we have or ever had to a world ruler. They are very annoyed at this fact. The odd thing is they can't really help us fight the evildoers and can't really hurt us all that much either. In the span of human history the 60 years since World War II is an eyeblink, but in the ebb and flow of world power, World War II and its seriously nasty multipolarity is an eon ago.
Europe is limping along, attached to a mobile oxygen unit, but it will never be a world power again, not even as a unified EU.
Welcome aboard!
Good post.