An excellent article which overlaps seemlessley with 'Your Role in Democracy'
A recent podcast made the interesting point that if you view a map of the world with the Pacific Ocean at the centre rather than Europe, then the logical geo political alliance becomes glaringly obvious.
Indeed that is why the British empire with Europe, at the peak of its maritime power, sought the shipping lanes of the North West Passage and via the direction of Halford Mackinder, sought to ensure that the United States and Russia never became allies.
It’s been a valiant fight, but this looks set to change and if the new trilateral arrangement includes China, Britain and Europe will be forced to change too !
Unfortunately though, there is the not insignficant hurdle to clear of the British and European governing class. Doesn't really matter whether it’s the technocracy or the façade of democracy ! There is a profound lack of vision and intellect amongst both to build alongside the new world power structure, and this is why they continue to not only regulate their societies into ruin, but are concomitantly fighting tooth and nail to keep the old order relevant, which is putting them increasingly at odds with the people whose interests they are meant to be serving
I think the Trump administration will seek to achieve whatever it can before the 2026 Midterms and I think the Europeans and British are hoping to wait it out until then
I don't think they have the time to do that though. The EU has already directly intervened to change the Romanian election result to its liking As you highlight, Germany will be governed by the 'coalition of losers', France and Austria are stretching every legal avenue to keep the increasingly false consensus in office and Italy is subtly shifting to a more pro Trump position
The question is who breaks rank first to call a halt on this European journey to penury ?
John, many thanks. The German election may be seen as a relief allowing the European centre to sit out Trump. This overlooks that the pressure is coming from their own electorates and they ignore them at their peril.
Starmer is attempting something similar. Pulling forward the last Conservative government's commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence from 2030 to 2027, still leaves room to back track if the Republicans lose one or both houses of Congress in 2026. The ambition to achieve 3% by 2033 is worthless, as Trump will tell Starmer.
The UK is starting from a position of spending 2.3% of GDP on defence. European countries are going to have to switch more than just the foreign aid budget to match the UK, let alone meet Trump's demands.
An excellent article which overlaps seemlessley with 'Your Role in Democracy'
A recent podcast made the interesting point that if you view a map of the world with the Pacific Ocean at the centre rather than Europe, then the logical geo political alliance becomes glaringly obvious.
Indeed that is why the British empire with Europe, at the peak of its maritime power, sought the shipping lanes of the North West Passage and via the direction of Halford Mackinder, sought to ensure that the United States and Russia never became allies.
It’s been a valiant fight, but this looks set to change and if the new trilateral arrangement includes China, Britain and Europe will be forced to change too !
Unfortunately though, there is the not insignficant hurdle to clear of the British and European governing class. Doesn't really matter whether it’s the technocracy or the façade of democracy ! There is a profound lack of vision and intellect amongst both to build alongside the new world power structure, and this is why they continue to not only regulate their societies into ruin, but are concomitantly fighting tooth and nail to keep the old order relevant, which is putting them increasingly at odds with the people whose interests they are meant to be serving
I think the Trump administration will seek to achieve whatever it can before the 2026 Midterms and I think the Europeans and British are hoping to wait it out until then
I don't think they have the time to do that though. The EU has already directly intervened to change the Romanian election result to its liking As you highlight, Germany will be governed by the 'coalition of losers', France and Austria are stretching every legal avenue to keep the increasingly false consensus in office and Italy is subtly shifting to a more pro Trump position
The question is who breaks rank first to call a halt on this European journey to penury ?
John, many thanks. The German election may be seen as a relief allowing the European centre to sit out Trump. This overlooks that the pressure is coming from their own electorates and they ignore them at their peril.
Starmer is attempting something similar. Pulling forward the last Conservative government's commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence from 2030 to 2027, still leaves room to back track if the Republicans lose one or both houses of Congress in 2026. The ambition to achieve 3% by 2033 is worthless, as Trump will tell Starmer.
The UK is starting from a position of spending 2.3% of GDP on defence. European countries are going to have to switch more than just the foreign aid budget to match the UK, let alone meet Trump's demands.