The National Security Strategy of the United States of America is not the kind of document which you’d usually describe as a page-turner.
It’s a policy document that is typically updated just once per presidential term, and it sets out the USA’s priorities across the world. Generally, it doesn’t change all that much whether it’s a Democrat or a Republican in office.
The USA, it generally says, is committed to defending and promoting freedom everywhere, supporting democracies, and – it generally tries to make this sound incidental – creating markets for US companies to sell their goods and services wherever possible. Those are the kind of long-term strategic goals that typically don’t drastically change when the incumbent of the Oval Office does. Until now.
Donald Trump’s White House last week quietly released its latest update to the security strategy, and in just 33 pages it throws out almost the entirety of America’s post-war doctrine – the one that won it the Cold War, helped it become the world’s only superpower, and which defended freedom in Western Europe at a time when it seemed in peril.
Broadly, the document ditches the idea of the US championing freedom and democracy in favour of whatever suits America’s direct interest and opportunities for profit. But the official document also radically transforms the USA’s stance towards Europe, and particularly the European Union.
Trump’s White House wants to change who is running Europe, and it’s not afraid to say so. The doctrine worried about “the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure” in Europe, naming the European Union as a “transnational body” that is “undermin[ing] political liberty and sovereignty” on the continent.
Now a leaked document, reported to be a longer version of the NSS, spells this out even more clearly. Where the official document speaks of “building up the healthy nations of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe”, the draft reportedly named Hungary, Italy, Poland and Austria, saying the US should co-operate with them towards “the goal of pulling them away from the [European Union]”, according to reports.
Similarly, the official strategy document contains a pledge that the US will work with parties seeking to change the European status quo. American policy for Europe, it concludes, should prioritise “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations”.
This has been almost universally interpreted as the American government signalling explicit support for Europe’s far-right parties – whether that’s the AfD in Germany, National Rally in France, or even Reform in the UK.
The leaked draft spelled this out more plainly, too, saying the US government “should support parties, movements, and intellectual and cultural figures who seek sovereignty and preservation/restoration of traditional European ways of life”. A spokesperson for the White House called the leaked version of the document “fake news”.
Europe’s current political leaders know that the continent still relies on the USA for its security, and however much they spend on defence, that will remain true for at least a decade or more. They now know that the guarantor of their security is trying to kick them out of office – and isn’t even denying it.
This is a reset of the transatlantic relationship like nothing else in living memory. No one alive has gone through this. America’s foreign policy, on paper at least, is more overtly hostile to Europe than China or Russia’s.
China spies on European countries, and notoriously steals technical and industrial secrets, but beyond that it largely just wants to be left alone to export its goods into our markets. Russia tries to buy up corrupt politicians and interfere in elections – particularly in Eastern Europe – but at least denies that it’s trying to do so.
By coming out and calling for change in the open, the USA’s public position to Europe is more overtly hostile than either of these traditional adversaries. Shock at the document has slowly rippled through foreign policy elites across the world, who mostly seem to be going through the stages of grief.
Your next read
square YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWNThis is how to take on Tommy Robinson at Christmas
square ROBERT SERVICE What Does Putin Do Next?Putin is getting more desperate. It won’t end well
square KITTY DONALDSONDon’t be fooled by talk of reversing Brexit – this is what Labour’s really doing
square POPPY JAYAs an immigrant I will never be good enough for Britain
Some are in denial, trying to shrug off its importance. Others push the idea that it’s a bargaining position, or at least something whose impact can be stalled, in the hope that a more “normal” president succeeds Trump – something which is far from guaranteed.
During Trump’s second term, almost every European leader has played the same game, flattering the President, humiliating themselves, and briefing that it’s the only way to deal with him, and the only way to get results. The reality is, they have all failed.
The radicals in the White House have made their agenda plain, and made it the strategic goal of the USA. Europe’s oldest and closest ally is a friend no longer. The continent’s political leaders now have to decide how to handle that.James Ball is the political editor at The New World
Hence then, the article about the us is now a potent threat to europe no one alive has ever seen this was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The US is now a potent threat to Europe. No one alive has ever seen this )
Also on site :