America's Fake European Friends

What better evidence is necessary to show that Donald Trump was right to trash the Eurocrats and question America's commitment to faithless friends who take Washington's support for granted? Actually, there is better evidence: a new poll from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

As ECFR noted, "Whereas, at the beginning of the century, European public opinion on the U.S. used to be divided along the lines of Donald Rumsfeld's 'old' and 'new' Europe, the current poll shows a great deal of convergence. Many differences between European societies remain, but the clear dividing lines have been blurred."

The survey posited an "In America We Trust" tribe, which ranged between 3 percent and 22 percent.

One of the most striking findings of ECFR's survey is that at least 60 per cent of respondents in every surveyed country - and an average of 67 per across all these countries - believe that they cannot always rely on the U.S. to defend them and need to invest in European defense.

European governments remain committed to NATO, principally because they realize they get a phenomenal deal: U.S. protection from a nuclear-armed great power.

If Europeans won't choose America over Russia, it should come as no surprise that they won't go with the U.S. over China.

Not so much today: "While all European governments will try to build a close relationship with the Biden administration, they will not feel that they have public support to make major concessions on high-profile issues of national importance."

https://spectator.org/america-european-china-russia/