I agree that the action is very consequential, the pipeline in particular was an unexpected shock with real tangible effects. I only was saying that the overwhelming majority of anti euro stuff is rhetoric, not that the actions weren’t important.
It was worth saying that most of what is done against Europe is rhetoric because a subsequent American regime could walk those positions back (not that any smart leader of a European state would trust them). Specifically if in the future one of the pressures that could be urging European nations to move to Microsoft alternatives were to disappear, it would be common sense to use the ms alternative program as a bargaining chip to get what the state actually wants: to not change anything and not have to retrain everyone.
That’s precisely why I pointed out that the role of Europe has changed from the American perspective in my original reply. It’s not a question of a specific leader, but the structural change in the material realities of the empire. A future president in the US may be less crass than Trump, but the policy itself isn’t going to change. The US is no longer going to see Europe as being worth the investment. The empire is contracting, and Americans will husband their resources either to dominate their own hemisphere or to try and contain China.
Yeah, the material reality isn’t gonna change, but I could see a ‘28 dem administration caring about Europe and the various coalition governments aligned against nationalist parties responding to it.
Romeo and Juliet but the houses aren’t alike in dignity.
Again, I see no material basis for 28 administration caring about Europe. Things are only going to get worse economically in the next couple years, and the US is going to have to husband their resources that much more as a result. The rise of nationalism in Europe is also inevitable for the same reason. As the economic situation continues to deteriorate, the countries that are better off will start pulling up the ladders.
I agree that the action is very consequential, the pipeline in particular was an unexpected shock with real tangible effects. I only was saying that the overwhelming majority of anti euro stuff is rhetoric, not that the actions weren’t important.
It was worth saying that most of what is done against Europe is rhetoric because a subsequent American regime could walk those positions back (not that any smart leader of a European state would trust them). Specifically if in the future one of the pressures that could be urging European nations to move to Microsoft alternatives were to disappear, it would be common sense to use the ms alternative program as a bargaining chip to get what the state actually wants: to not change anything and not have to retrain everyone.
That’s precisely why I pointed out that the role of Europe has changed from the American perspective in my original reply. It’s not a question of a specific leader, but the structural change in the material realities of the empire. A future president in the US may be less crass than Trump, but the policy itself isn’t going to change. The US is no longer going to see Europe as being worth the investment. The empire is contracting, and Americans will husband their resources either to dominate their own hemisphere or to try and contain China.
Yeah, the material reality isn’t gonna change, but I could see a ‘28 dem administration caring about Europe and the various coalition governments aligned against nationalist parties responding to it.
Romeo and Juliet but the houses aren’t alike in dignity.
Again, I see no material basis for 28 administration caring about Europe. Things are only going to get worse economically in the next couple years, and the US is going to have to husband their resources that much more as a result. The rise of nationalism in Europe is also inevitable for the same reason. As the economic situation continues to deteriorate, the countries that are better off will start pulling up the ladders.
Absent the belligerents industrial capacity to wage war, what will the second Great War look like?
Personally, I think a major war is not a likely scenario. I’m expecting something more akin to the Soviet collapse in the 90s.