Once upon a time, the US came to our relief during WW2. That was highly appreciated, and perhaps as well appreciated was the Marshall aid during the 50s.
That aid from the US was - as far as I can understand - based on the fact that no country is an island. We work together, or we fail together. Same thing with NATO.
Generally during the current administration and particularly after the last fuckup I don’t think West European intelligence will share any intelligence with the US. Which, frankly, is rather terrifying.
One of my favorite authors once wrote an essay entitled “We who used to love America”. I used to love the US, but these days I rather see the US as a serious threat to the Western world and our ideals.
I doubt there has been much “we love America” sentiment since the WWII recovery days. For instance, I don’t remember gushing admiration by Europeans in the days of Reagan and Bush II. Lots of resentment and suspicion, which has now been markedly amplified.
After this disaster has subsided, there will be room for cautious cooperation, again with mutual benefit closely scrutinized.
What I am learning is how much resentment there has been in the US.
And it probably makes more sense than other propaganda. Don’t get me wrong; a lot of the “freeloader” stuff and being “delinquent” etc are based on many misconceptions, and some xenophobic caricatures. But they aren’t as outright false as most of what MAGA says.
And nations generally write their history in a simplistic way that casts them as unambiguously the heroes, and leaves out the nuance and transactions. As the US has been outspending any western nation on defence for a long time (apart from a few small examples like Poland), it was inevitable some resentment would build up.
We used to love America (the US) up until the 60s-70s. From then on, it went downhill. I used to love the US up until the 90s-00s (heck, I even lived over there for a while!). Those days are definitely gone.
And your guys have thoroughly demonstrated that we can’t trust you anymore. Good luck getting reliable intelligence in the future, because we sure as heck don’t trust you no more
I don’t deserve hatred because I’m American.
Thats just like blanket hatred of Chinese persons becuse their country is communist.
I don’t think I can say that I hate every person from a country whose politics I don’t agree with. That’s silly.
Why do American individuals have to be concerned about this?
First of all, I oppose Trump as much as anyone else.
That being said, a good deal of the not-taking-defense-seriously criticism of Europe was/is justified. This wasn’t just a MAGA talking point; Democratic presidents had also urged NATO-Europe to step it up - to deaf ears. Only the eastern flank of NATO (Poland, the Baltics, etc.) really took things seriously. Even the Russian invasion of Ukraine didn’t really get western Europe to wake up that much. In certain situations, the “freeloader” label wasn’t an exaggeration.
The ironic thing is that many of the Europeans who criticized America for being “the world’s policeman” also complain that America isn’t the world’s policeman.
So yes, it’s true that America has totally trashed its reputation by electing Trump. But even if there were a non-broken stream of Democratic presidents, what exactly was going to prod western Europe to boost its defense spending past 2-3% of GDP?
They don’t know “American individuals”-they know America, and if I am looked at with suspicion I know why. If I go overseas my best bet would be to earn back the trust that used to be there.
It’s not a matter of hating Americans (and certainly not you). It’s the business of re-thinking our governments’ relative places in the world, given the sudden unreliability of the US in sustaining the European security system it was keen to set up.
But…most of the European security system was meant to…protect Europe.
The United States itself is the geographically furthest-from-Europe nation in NATO. It is the least-directly-affected by Russian aggression. Of course it should be Europe stepping up to shoulder most of the burden. Russia isn’t in America’s backyard; Russia is in Europe’s backyard.
This is like if John helps David install a home security system for David’s home, then David is disgruntled that John isn’t doing more, decades later, to help David maintain it. It’s David’s own defense that is at stake.
My point is that some foreigners greatly exaggerate their fondness for the U.S. in the Good Old Days. Nah, they bitched a lot back then, more so now when there’s far better cause.
It’s not like Europe is just offended by the recent Signal messages; America is openly hostile to democracy, promoting fascism in Germany, talking about annexing NATO countries; aiding Russia in its war in Ukraine and undermining the foundations of NATO. Of course Europe shouldn’t trust the US, it’s an overtly hostile authoritarian regime.
People here are acting like it’s just business as usual; which is another reason Europe shouldn’t trust America: its populace is complacent and ignorant.
