The handful examples are incredibly consequential. Europe is basically entirely dependent on the US for energy. And with energy prices in the US being around three times lower, the US is using that as leverage to lure industry away from Europe. The US is also actively meddling in European politics and uses their social media platforms to shape public opinion in Europe.
It’s kind of hard to see what positive actions the US has taken towards Europe over the past few years. It’s an abusive relationship where Europe continues to accept one humiliation after another.
Now that the Iran fiasco looks to have failed, it’s entirely possible that Trump will remember about Greenland again. Meanwhile, there’s very little indication that EU actually does much of anything to protect any common interests. The EU immediately folded in the trade war with the US, while China and many other countries held firm.
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.
The handful examples are incredibly consequential. Europe is basically entirely dependent on the US for energy. And with energy prices in the US being around three times lower, the US is using that as leverage to lure industry away from Europe. The US is also actively meddling in European politics and uses their social media platforms to shape public opinion in Europe.
It’s kind of hard to see what positive actions the US has taken towards Europe over the past few years. It’s an abusive relationship where Europe continues to accept one humiliation after another.
Now that the Iran fiasco looks to have failed, it’s entirely possible that Trump will remember about Greenland again. Meanwhile, there’s very little indication that EU actually does much of anything to protect any common interests. The EU immediately folded in the trade war with the US, while China and many other countries held firm.
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.