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| Europe |
| Why Europe hates Trump more than Iran |
| 2020-01-09 |
| [Politico] Behind the sober public pronouncements from Brussels and national capitals, officials are seething. Time to disband NATO. If they hate us this much, what are we doing there? Reckless, illegal, unhinged. When it comes to finding adjectives to describe U.S. President Donald Trump’s assassination of Iranian military guru Qassem Soleimani, which prompted the Iranians to respond by launching missile attacks on bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops overnight, European officials have displayed rare unity. At least in private. Behind the sober public pronouncements from Brussels and national capitals about the need for "de-escalation," officials are seething. Plus ca change? While Trump has been reviled by Europe’s establishment from the day he took office, his other major "outrages" ‐ such as the decisions to pull out of the Paris climate accord and the Iranian nuclear deal or to impose tariffs on EU steel ‐ were well-telegraphed. No one saw the Iranian escalation coming. Within hours of Soleimani's assassination, Europe’s shock over the Iranian general’s killing morphed into anger at Trump. One of the indirect victims of the U.S. strike may prove to be the transatlantic relationship. We don't need them. They need us. Fuck 'em. Just how bad is it? Even as Iran’s supreme leader promised "severe" retaliation for the killing over the weekend, EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for a sitdown in Brussels. The U.S., which recently placed sanctions on Zarif, won’t even grant him a visa to visit the United Nations. UN out of USA, too. Move it to Geneva. Angela Merkel, Europe’s de facto supreme leader, responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow. Berlin appears to have concluded that sitting down with Vladimir Putin (who met with Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad this week to celebrate their success in crushing Syria’s civil war) would be more productive than a trip to Washington, on paper still Germany’s most important ally. Former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel described the Soleimani attack as a "1914 moment." The new leadership of Germany's Social Democrats, Merkel's coalition partner, called on the U.S. to remove its nuclear arsenal from the country. Though other senior SPD officials, including former European Parliament President Martin Schulz, have endorsed such a move in the past, the timing of the latest demand underscored the degree of German unease over Trump's course. Under Trump, the transatlantic relationship "has fundamentally changed," SPD co-leader Norbert Walter-Borjans said on Tuesday. Time to leave. Disband NATO, pull out the troops, and last one out turn off the lights. Europe prefers gay-executing, protester-killing, terrorist-sponsoring theocratic Iran to us. So be it. |
| Posted by:Herb McCoy |
| #30 Nailed it, #8 grom. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2020-01-09 22:05 |
| #29 #3 - 99.9%? |
| Posted by: Barbara 2020-01-09 22:03 |
| #28 #24 But consumed moderately |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-01-09 20:40 |
| #27 Many in Europe opposed Reagan because they fear brinksmanship even if the result could be a lasting peace. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2020-01-09 17:20 |
| #26 I saw a figure that we had spent $11 trillion in the mideast wars. If true, that's about half of the reported national debt. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2020-01-09 15:58 |
| #25 I would say we should get out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the EU all at once, and take all our FMS, USAID, and NATO/UN dollars with us. We could turn those dollars into US military and welfare programs and still lower taxes to the blue collar world... |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2020-01-09 15:45 |
| #24 I wouldn't touch stuff below 100 proof OK, that's hard core. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2020-01-09 12:11 |
| #23 Why Europe hates Trump more than Iran Can we take that as a "Yes" that you think Trump is doing a good job then. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2020-01-09 10:34 |
| #22 #17 The bourbon I drink is 100% single use. And I wouldn't touch stuff below 100 proof |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-01-09 09:18 |
| #21 I think the main answer to this question is simply "Where's the graft in that?" Trump seems to personify all the characteristics of the US that Euros have despised since the beginning. He often acts like those early Civics lessons about how things should work took hold and he just won't play the aristocrat game. To quote some of my wive's victorian romances "He's in trade" therefore should be ignored...until they need his money. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2020-01-09 09:13 |
| #20 #15 Procopius2k Don't give me ideas... |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-01-09 09:01 |
| #19 I keep seeing this word 'assassination'. A term I had heretofore thought a legal term but now seems corroded and softened to mean anything and nothing. How exactly does one go about 'assassinating' the uniformed general in charge of international operations of a nation that declared war on us 41 years ago and have maintained that state ever since? Other than that, who gives a laughing damn what the euros 'think' about anything. |
| Posted by: Cesare 2020-01-09 08:53 |
| #18 Soviet/Russian anthem misheard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqR1V3DN8hM |
| Posted by: Unosh Hupinelet8756 2020-01-09 08:48 |
| #17 You know, bourbon is dual use. You can drink it, cook with it, disinfect a wound. If over 100 proof it's an accelerant or motor fuel, though it's a shame to |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-01-09 08:32 |
| #16 Islamic or European (redundant these days?) Ding! Ding! DING! We have a winner! |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2020-01-09 08:30 |
| #15 Trump decided to kill 1 man, so he did not have to kill 10,000 later. As a result, he got a good excuse to kill 100,000, and said "No, I'm not really interested in killing people that attack us with steaming bowls of angry sauerkraut. That is beneath me". I would not call that escalation, but then again, I am neither Islamic or European (redundant these days?). They got smacked, they took a groin shot and missed, and now they are going back to their caves. They should stay there, they were given a reprieve. |
| Posted by: Beau 2020-01-09 08:21 |
| #14 EC you can always move closer to the source. Think of the money you'll save. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2020-01-09 08:13 |
| #13 BP that was good. Spot on boyo. |
| Posted by: Dale 2020-01-09 08:11 |
| #12 responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow That's nonsense. These meetings are planned and arranged months ahead. As for Gabriel, he's a very leftist friend of Schröder. "They" dislike Trump? Cry me a river. I dislike him, too. Do I hate Americans? My bottle of fine Kentucky Bourbon is 30% more expensive now due to that tariff nonsense. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2020-01-09 07:54 |
| #11 |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2020-01-09 07:50 |
| #10 Buncha parvenus, that’s us, g(r)oomgoru— with all the annoyingly brash self-confidence and indifference to forms of the breed. We can’t help but annoy a certain kind of mind, as dear Mrs. Trollope so clearly demonstrated. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-01-09 07:20 |
| #9 #7 Angela Merkel, Europe’s de facto supreme leader, responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow. Puts one in mind of the Molotov-Ribbentrop tea party. |
| Posted by: b 2020-01-09 07:06 |
| #8 Wrong. They don't hate Trump. They hate you - and he's your representative. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-01-09 06:54 |
| #7 Angela Merkel, Europe’s de facto supreme leader, responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow. Returning to the mother ship for consultations ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2020-01-09 06:29 |
| #6 "Sigmar Gabriel" sounds like a gay bath house disease. Sigmar Gabriel Political party Social Democratic Party. Heh. I was right. |
| Posted by: Woodrow 2020-01-09 01:31 |
| #5 Former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel described the Soleimani attack as a "1914 moment." Moron. We don't have anything remotely close to the conditions that prevailed in August 1914. The Middle East is not the most important region in the world. There is no major rival to the US hyper power. The other great powers are not organized into alliances bound by "reinsurance" treaties. Mass mobilization doesn't even exist anymore as a feature of advanced societies. China is not even present, let alone relevant, let alone a major player, in the Middle East. Russia has zero obligations to its deadbeat, shitshow-customer Iran. How can anyone propounding such a foolish comparison be taken seriously? |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-01-09 00:57 |
| #4 /\ And how many people in the aristocracies that run Europe are looking back to the glory days of the Age of Colonialism™, where their families ran the world, and see the USA as a primary villain in ending that period? |
| Posted by: magpie 2020-01-09 00:41 |
| #3 *Shrug* How many former East Germans are in the government of present day Germany, and the EU, that secretly wish the Soviets had won the Cold War? |
| Posted by: magpie 2020-01-09 00:35 |
| #2 The only committed NATO members are the former Warsaw Pact countries. Trump's actions are like a searchlight showing the weakness and shallowness of the Western European leadership. |
| Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2020-01-09 00:34 |
| #1 the real reason is that Iran has the goods on who took bribes for accepting and supporting Obama's agreement with Iran and have threatened to release that information unless it is supported. |
| Posted by: daniel 2020-01-09 00:32 |