Editor-in-chief of The Economist, Zanny Minton Beddoes, says it has dawned on Europeans that the crisis in NATO runs deeper than assumed, and that there is a real risk of division.
Beddoes, who was a guest on an episode of CNN’s «Global Public Square» with Fareed Zakaria, spoke about how European leaders are furious over Trump’s recent statements.
“They are furious at being called cowards and other insults by the President of the United States, when one recalls that the only time NATO Article 5 has been invoked was after 11 September, and thousands of Europeans and NATO forces served with distinction in Afghanistan,” she said.
This, she noted, comes in addition to European leaders’ concerns about their own energy needs, as they are heavily dependent on fossil fuels from the Gulf region.
“They see the consequences for their economies. And on top of that they now have the President of the United States and the Secretary of State who are in effect saying: ‘NATO is finished’,” she said.
Minton Beddoes does not take into account that Europe since the fall of the Wall has lived off America and allowed the money to go to welfare for old and new inhabitants. That party is over. But Europeans do not tolerate criticism from the Trump administration. Labour sends delegations over to assist Kamala, yet reacts every time Trump’s people comment on the situation in Europe.
They call warnings threats, and it is within this self-constructed rhetorical universe that they operate. All statements from Washington are processed through the same filter.
On Wednesday, Secretary General Mark Rutte will come to Washington. He is a team player, but how is he to weld the alliance together again when the liberals’ attitude is systematic negativity and projection?
The Trump camp is, of course, aware of the parallel between Europe and the Democrats, who play the same game. European indignation is not taken at face value, but it has something of the same pathological quality as the Democrats’ rhetoric.
“I think there is a growing recognition in Europe, even among those European countries that have always seen the glass as half full and have always hoped that they can maintain some sort of special relationship with the United States, that this time it really may be different,” said Beddoes.
The conflict surrounding Iran, she claimed, is the latest, and perhaps the most serious, in a long series of warnings, ranging from Trump’s calls for Europeans to pay for their own defence, which she said is a good idea, to tariffs and “verbal attacks” concerning Greenland.
“I think there is a recognition in Europe that this may be a divorce,” she said.
What Beddoes is saying is that Europe will drift without the United States. They have neither the resources nor the technology to manage on their own. They have made an enemy of their best friend. It would have cost them little to tone down the rhetoric, but instead they have thrown themselves into the arms of the forces that have waged war against Trump for ten years and have seized power from within. Europeans are so enmeshed in this power game that they are unable to see it from the outside.
It is the strength of the Trump administration that they are able to do so.