EU poll - Large majority of Europeans say in Poll that Europe should chart its own course in world affairs

EU should 'chart its own course' in world affairs, Europeans say in Poll

 

Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/09/10/eu-should-chart-its-own-course-in-world-affairs-europeans-say

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USA: European and many other countries around the world now giving the middle finger to the US

Read more at:
https://www.politico.eu/article/french-paper-gives-trump-the-middle-finge

Germany: Trump's anti-German stance is stupid and dangerous-by Fred Kaplan

The fallout from President Trump’s disastrous trip to Europe continues to poison the trans-Atlantic climate. His comments about Germany have been particularly toxic—and, beyond that, stupid, reflecting no understanding of the country’s strategic importance or its dreadful history.

Chancellor Angela Merkel stated the matter plainly in a speech on Sunday in Bavaria. Europeans “must take our fate into our own hands,” she said, because the “times in which we could rely fully on others … are somewhat over.” This, she added, “is what I experienced in the last few days”—a reference to Trump’s behavior in Brussels and Rome, where, among other bits of rudeness, he declined to pay even lip service to the pledge, enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, that the United States would defend any member of NATO that comes under attack.

As if in piqued response, Trump tweeted on Tuesday, “We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO and military. Very bad for U.S. This will change.” While overseas, Trump had reportedly told Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Union, “The Germans are bad, very bad. Look at the millions of cars that they’re selling in the USA. Horrible. We’re gonna stop that.” Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied the report, which appeared in Der Spiegel, but Trump’s Tuesday tweet undercut the denial and underscored his complaint. It wasn’t some loose remark, he seemed to be saying; he meant it.

But Trump’s ire is misplaced or unwise on several levels. First, yes, Americans buy a lot of German cars, but this isn’t because Germany is dumping BMWs and Volkswagens on the U.S. market; it’s because a lot of Americans like those cars. Second, as my colleague Daniel Gross has pointed out, lots of those German cars are made in the United States; a BMW plant in South Carolina—the company’s biggest plant in the world—churns out 400,000 cars a year.

The thing is, Trump knows this. When Merkel visited Washington in March, she brought along the CEOs of BMW, Siemens, and Schaeffler, an industrial-parts manufacturer, who met with Trump for an hour, briefing him on their $300 billion investment in the American economy and the 750,000 American jobs that their plants had created. By all accounts, Trump was impressed.

Perhaps the most wondrous thing about the world that took form after World War II has been the absence of war between the longstanding rivals in Europe—not just the absence of wars but the disappearance of the notion that European wars were inevitable. This feat didn’t come about by some miracle or accident. It was the result of painstaking effort to build an alliance based on shared values and common interests, requiring trillions of dollars in aid and investment, the maintenance of massive military bases, and—in particularly trying times—a crisis or two that risked another, far more cataclysmic war. It is this alliance—and the international order on which it stands—that Trump’s tantrums and indifference are endangering.

European leaders realized last week (you could see it on their faces as they watched Trump speak)—that the alliance will be in some degree of abeyance as long as this guy is president.

It may be no coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief foreign-policy goal is to restore the old Soviet Union. He can do that only if the European Union is weakened and the ties between the United States and Europe are severed. He may have reason to believe that his dream might come true. Whatever the probes reveal about Trump’s ties or obligations (or lack of any connections whatever) to Russia, his signs of indifference to the fate of Europe are no doubt causing Putin to salivate more than he thought he ever would.
 

Read more: Trump's anti-German stance is stupid and dang

EU-US Partnership: "The EU is increasingly unreliable and unpredictable" - by George Friedman

European Unity?

The United States has a partnership with Europe, but it can no longer think of NATO as the mechanism by which it is related to Europe, George Friedman told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

George Friedman the author of this report is an American political scientist and author. A former chief intelligence officer, he is the founder of Stratfor and was its financial overseer and CEO. He recently sold his shares in Stratfor and started Geopolitical Futures, a new global analysis company. 

Firstly, the US looks at Europe in the much broader context of Eurasia. So now we have a crisis that stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The Chinese are in crisis, Russia is in crisis, the Middle East is in terrific crisis, and now Europe is in crisis as well. So we are looking at a situation where an area with a population of 5 billion is transforming in ways we cannot anticipate.

An American looks at this not just as Europe, but as a range of problems in general. There are many American views of Europe, but my view is that the EU has failed, but there is no clear alternative. And we see the failure in the immigration issue, which we do not regard as a major issue because it is less than 0.5% of population shift, but Europe cannot make a decision on how to handle it.

This is not an unmanageable problem. You can decide not to let anyone in, and then you take measures to prevent that, or you decide to integrate them and you do certain things to make that happen. It is Europe’s inability to make a decision that is, from the American point of view, the most problematic.

It is problematic because the United States has a partnership with Europe. As important as the EU, and very much missing from this conversation, is NATO: the stresses that exist between the countries in the European Union also become present in NATO.

So for example, we have one relationship with the French, one relationship with the British, a very different relationship with the Germans and a completely different relationship with the Poles. We can no longer think of NATO as the mechanism by which we are related to Europe.

This is not a catastrophic situation for the United States, but it poses challenges to us in the Middle East, and it poses challenges with Russia, and we are looking at the Europeans as increasingly unreliable and increasingly unpredictable.

Note EU-Digest: a most interesting and revealing report, exposing the weaknesses of the EU, including: lack of loyalty among partners, disarray among member states in the decision making process, need for a strong central leadership,  ineffectiveness of NATO, and need for our own EU army. As the saying goes :"We, the EU, better fish or cut bait". 

Hope you are taking note ? - EU Citizens, EU Presidency,  EU Commission, EU Parliament,  and foremost all you 28 self-centered EU member states governments. Don't destroy this fantastic project of democracy we call the EU, which has brought us more than 60 years of  Democracy, Peace and Prosperity. We the people will hold you responsible. We can't turn the clock back. Time for action is now !
 
For the complete report click here: George Friedman: The EU is increasingly unreliable and unpredictable | EurActiv

EU-US Relationship: The Atlantic Alliance needs a facelift - by RM

Everyone seems ton be in total agreement that the US and the EU (Europe) share a lot of common values going back all the way to the American war of independence and the majority of the people on both side of the pond hope it will remain that way. 

Europe and the US need to support each other in these ideals - even though if we look at the US  reasons for helping out Europe in times of need, for instance during the first and second world war, this support also came because of US self interest.

If the Nazi's had won the war in Europe they would also become a direct threat to the existence of the US.

A similar situation developed during the the cold war with the Soviet Union.

What some visionary Europeans are suggesting today is that times have changed. Even though the basic principles on a large number of issues, including human rights are still common ideals in the US and the EU, there are also many areas of disagreement..

These including: but are not limited to, foreign policy, the environment, privacy rights, trade, financial laws, military alliances (NATO), and agricultural safety standards.

In other words - what is good for America is not necessarily good for the EU.

The EU needs to do some basic homework as to figuring out what needs to be achieved from within if the EU wants to become a truly independent world  player and this brain-storming must also include developing a new framework for the Atlantic Alliance with the US.

It is high time this happens, before the more than 500 million inhabitants of the EU lose faith in this greatest European political project ever undertaken in history.


EU-Digest

EU and the US: strange bedfellows - perceptions and reality - by RM

When asking this question it might be a good idea to look at what unites and divides these two Atlantic Alliance partners.  

Historical ties: US and Europe  respect many common democratic ideals and through-out the years always jointly stood up for these ideals on many occasions, including-fighting wars and conflicts over these ideals against adversaries together .

Economics: both the EU and the US adhere, certainly if we look at these ideals in the past, to supporting and promoting free and open global trade,

This common purpose has, however, eroded  rapidly over the past 5 - 10 years.

Comparing US and EU austerity programs following the 2008 economic crises, it seems that when you put EU austerity programs under a magnifying glass they are in effect quite realistic, and even though they are so far not showing spectacular results, these measures seem to be working.

The US, on the other hand, seems to be doing economics by "magic wand" and in the process has rung up the world's biggest deficit.

The so-called  quantitative easing {QE) developed by the US Fed in fact means just printing more money and putting their head in the sand. QE is only pushing the day of reckoning further away. Unfortunately, this kind of economic policy will come and haunt the US in a big way one day.

In the past the US had a thriving industrial base on which it could fall back. It does not have that today.

As to Europe and the ECB, chaired by Mario Draghi, a former Goldman Sachs employee, it seems the ECB is also expected to take the plunge into quantitative easing, mainly as a result of constant Wall Street Pressure.

The results, in the long run, will like with the US program, eventually not be what was expected.     

Facts and figures: European economic data is usually very accurate. In contrast, US economic data including labor data is not always accurate, making it necessary for the US Government to release several updates and revisions which make it quite confusing for economic analysts.

Freedom of the Press: there does not seem to be any apparent censorship of the Press in either the EU or the US

Watching the news in America outsiders are constantly amazed by the uniformity and sensationalist news coverage projected by the corporate owned networks to the majority of US viewers,

Two US exceptions as to the above observation are "link TV" and "PBS".

Aljazeera America and BBC America are also considered good alternatives for news "without a slant" one can watch in America.

For more international news, another possibility is "streaming" news from France24 on your computer. .

For Europeans in America interested to keep up-to-date with their home news they will find most local European TV stations have internet links which you can watch anywhere in the world..

Miscellaneous observations Some other general observations about American and European differences

Like the EU, the US is a magnet for immigrants and refugees from economically, democratically, and war ravaged countries.

The US population in general is obese, consumer driven, under-educated and not very savvy when it comes to world affairs or in speaking foreign languages.

The EU population is nationalistically and  negatively inclined at what they consider as foreign, be it immigrants or religious beliefs..

Europeans in general are far better educated than Americans, many speak at least 2 to 3 languages and are aware of what is going on around the world.

Corporations: Corporate America: has basically taken over political America and regardless of the fact that they are perceived in both the US and the EU as corrupt and too powerful, are nevertheless continuing their practices as usual and are practically unopposed by governments on both sides of the Atlantic

Corporations and their lobbyists are getting an ever stronger foothold in the European parliament.

Racial Divide: There is still a huge, often hidden, racial divide between black and white in America.

Middle East: The strong Jewish influence and political lobby by Israel in relation to US policies in the Middle East has certainly contributed to the present chaotic situation in that area.

The situation becomes even more muddled if one includes in that picture the US close ties with Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

One could also say that this situation  is reminiscent of the former British Empire "divide and conquer" policies which eventually ended in disaster.

The EU has a different vision about relations with Middle Eastern countries and has close ties with the Palestinians and their leader Abbas .

The EU has also strongly objected against the destructive Israeli attacks against Gaza and the unauthorized expansion of Israel on the West bank.

NATO: EU states are usually forced to go along with the US on their military adventures in the Middle East and elsewhere as a result of their membership in NATO.

Research and polls show that 68 % of the EU 500 million plus population would vote in favor of getting out of the NATO if a referendum were held today

The Environment: On the issues of global warming, GMO, and alternative energy, the population of the US is held mainly in the dark by the corporate controlled press and government.

Consequently, they are not totally aware of the dangers lurking around the corner if no action is taken.

Future outlook: A positive development for future change is that the "below 30" of the US population have no appetite for any global military adventures, and little or no confidence in their present political representatives. and  believe transparency of Government actions are compromised.

This positive outlook is also apparent in Europe

It certainly is a hopeful sign that the change which is coming will probably also result in the US and the EU becoming more equal and independent partners within the Atlantic Alliance than they are today.

EU-Digest

Anti-Terrorism March: Absence of top U.S. official at Paris march disappoint European allies - should US Ambassador France be recalled?

More than 1 million people demonstrate in Paris

As world leaders linked arms and marched in defiance of terror attacks in Paris, there was one glaring absence: a high-level representative from the United States.

President Barack Obama spent the weekend at the White House. Vice President Joe Biden was in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Secretary of State John Kerry was on a long-planned trip to India. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris attending a security summit, but did not make an appearance at the march on Sunday.

The Obama administration was instead represented by U.S. ambassador to France Jane Hartley.
That decision sparked criticism of the administration, including from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who called it a mistake for the U.S. to not have higher level representation at a rally supporting the nation’s oldest ally.

More than a million people walked the boulevards of Paris Sunday in what French officials called the largest demonstration in their country’s history.

The rally was aimed at showing unity following terror attacks by Islamic militants that left 17 people dead.

The procession was led by some 50 world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The White House has yet to explain why it decided to forgo high-level representation at the march. The president’s overseas travel is usually planned well in advance given the enormous security apparatus that accompanies him. The vice president has a lighter security footprint and can sometimes travel overseas more quickly.

Asked about the criticism, Kerry said, “I really think that this is sort of quibbling a little bit.” Still, the State Department announced that Kerry would be traveling to Paris this week to show solidarity with the French people.

A European parliamentarian when asked about this obvious Faux-Pas by the US State department: said: "European are very disappointed that a top US official did not attend the solidarity demonstration against global terrorism in Paris, This is not expected from a country considered by many as the " leader of the Western World and one of the closets friends and allies of  Europe."

"Shouldn't US Ambassador in France be recalled ?"

EU-Digest