Posted on 08/31/2021 11:11:27 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Just a few months ago, the honeymoon seemed in full bloom. President Joe Biden arrived in Brussels in June and was treated like a long-lost friend, happily home after a sojourn in the Trumpian wilderness. "America is back on the global scene," Charles Michel, president of the European Council, said to Biden in front of the media. "It's great news. It's great news for our alliance. It's also great news for the world."
But as the summer wanes, so too has the transatlantic romance that accompanied Biden's ascent to power earlier this year. Biden promised a far less combustible relationship with the United States' traditional Western allies, and appeared to galvanize European colleagues with his paeans toward shared values and his renewed efforts to help lead collective action on climate change. But sources of friction remain. The Biden administration, which touts its own brand of economic populism, has yet to fully lift a slate of tariffs on European goods put into place by former president Donald Trump.
Shadowing all deliberations is the sudden Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and the seemingly chaotic handling of the American withdrawal, which have shaken European faith in Biden's decision-making and priorities.
Biden announced a full withdrawal that his NATO allies had no choice but to follow. While European officials voice concerns about the humanitarian plight in the country, as well as the prospect of huge new flows of Afghan refugees, they also complain in private about a lack of genuine consultation with the Biden administration.
"We're not islands. The decisions of our allies have consequences for their allies," Constanze Stelzenmüller, an expert on German affairs and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told Today's WorldView. "You get this impression that people are making policy into a void when there should be coordination."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Well then.....
A sour Europe can’t complain when ISIS K and Al Qaeda are precision bombed on a Fraday
Stolen elections have consequences
Hell, the lights aren't even on.
They got what they wanted. I don’t want to hear them whine
The EUsnots actually loathe the fact the USA arrived "late" for both WWI and WWII after having sent millions of their own boys off to the slaughter.
And they learned very little about weakness.
Weii,maybe one dim bulb.
Frankly European Leaders will ride Biden out regardless of what he does.....I don’t see them going to far forward without the US. They are still dependent militarily on the US.
at least they knew where Trump stood, and never wavered
Those sophisticated Europeans seem kind of stupid. But they’re coming around. Maybe.
The reality of the Afghanistan war is money. We were told that we were building and buying an army, a government. But then there was no government. There was no army. So what happened to the 100s of billions of dollars every year? Thats what we need to get to the bottom of. Our Army, our state department gave away $100 billion dollars a year. To who? for what?
You can let them off easy by assuming it was stupidity. I don’t think so. I think people know where that money went. I think people got that money on purpose. Who were they? Where are they now? And where is the money? That amount of money is too huge. We should never stop looking in to it.
Nothing should have been done without planned coordination with our allies with folks, military or not, in Afghanistan. Like with Bagram, not only were the Afghans not told, before it was done in the middle of the night, no other NATO allies there knew about it either.
The “plan” was apparently no plan at all.
Nothing should have been done without planned coordination with our allies with folks, military or not, in Afghanistan. Like with Bagram, not only were the Afghans not told, before it was done in the middle of the night, no other NATO allies there knew about it either.
The “plan” was apparently no plan at all.
But will they let him stay in “the club”, you know, because he pays heavy dues?
LOL Really rich coming from the Germans, whose foreign policy is based on naked mercantile self-interest cloaked with multinational virtue signaling. Little more than clever parasitism.
Hey Europe! I could have told you what to expect from the drooler-in-chief! But you didn’t ask me!
He’ll send them all large amounts of U.S. tax dollars to soothe their anxieties.
Or when when ISIS K and Al Qaeda precision bomb the Eiffel Tower.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.