Trump gave the West its own Sino-Soviet split

Meh.

Speaking from within, the EU needs to be kicked in the stomach when it’s been already weighed down by the Ukraine war and the American cannibalization. What Leyen, Macron, Merz and their sort want is to become, geopolitically, an independent carbon copy of Biden America. Teaming up with America whenever a Democrat is in the White House, including militarily through psychologically normalizing the increased national military spendings on an “independent” European army to alleviate the US European burden so the latter can consolidate on other fronts, and substituting to carry the torch of Western hegemony when a MAGA Republican comes in.

Their much tortured dilemma is that they simply lack the capacity and the capability, which is why their aspirations for economic recovery and geopolitical relevance should be given a cold shoulder. The existence of the EU as a geopolitical concept is a conceit predicated on the inherent assumption that other countries will play along with the charade and treat it as a unified bloc, rather than exploiting its internal divisions. The EU has thus enjoyed the perception of geopolitical strength as a unified bloc, reaping the benefits of collective power while avoiding the sacrifices required for the deeper integration needed to form an actual federation—something politically unfeasible at the national level.

For the time being, this fiction has been propped up by the goodwill of other countries, but the latent European chauvinism especially since the Ukraine war of defending their “garden” against the “jungle” has seemingly worn away some of that patience away. It would be better for this “United States of Europe” wannabe to be ripped apart at the seams, which is why it’s been interesting to see increasing diplomatic initiatives by countries like China at the bilateral level in Europe rather than multilaterally with the bloc as a whole.