Egon Willigh☮gen 🟥
and 2 others
boosted
American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations” individual character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.
Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe.
America is, understandably, sentimentally attached to the European continent — and, of course, to Britain and Ireland. The character of these countries is also strategically important because we count upon creative, capable, confident, democratic allies to establish conditions of stability and security. We want to work with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness.
Over the long term, it is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European. As such, it is an open question whether they will view their place in the world, or their alliance with the United States, in the same way as those who signed the NATO charter.
Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize:
⏺ Reestablishing conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia;
⏺ Enabling Europe to stand on its own feet and operate as a group of aligned sovereign nations, including by taking primary responsibility for its own defense, without being dominated by any adversarial power;
⏺ Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations;
⏺ Opening European markets to U.S. goods and services and ensuring fair treatment of U.S. workers and businesses;
⏺ Building up the healthy nations of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe through commercial ties, weapons sales, political collaboration, and cultural and educational exchanges;
⏺ Ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance; and
⏺ Encouraging Europe to take action to combat mercantilist overcapacity, technological theft, cyber espionage, and other hostile economic practices.
