President Donald Trump is threatening a 100% tariff on imports from any country that imposes a tax on digital services provided by United States companies
I lived in the US for many, many years. I had acquired and priced what made me become and its people, from ALL political backgrounds. But for a decade now I have warned Europeans that excess reliance on the US political class is poison for Europe (and the world, really). I think many politicians in Europe have realized this in the last two years too, but are just trying to weather it out until Trump is out of office. Not so, the political aim of the US elite is to drain its allies dry as their contest with China persists. The political difference lies in the methodology, not the final objective. Trump does it abruptly, while many Republicans want to do it more subtly. Democrats, and sorry, most of the cheered progressive Democrats fall in here too, just want to milk the cash-cow a bit longer, but their aim is also to drain allies, though cleverly, trying not to antagonize them in the process.
The future of Europe is not to compete directly against the US or China, that is not possible, but to try to be the Switzerland of the world: a neutral economic area where US, Chinese or Brazilian capital is safe, where researchers from Russia, China, Taiwan or Singapore feel safe and wanted, where there are no discriminatory bans and the rule of law is supreme and predictably independent. The leaders of the EU, as good obedient pro-US leaders they are, are steering the EU in the exact opposite direction, leaving no third player in a world dominated by the US and China as the only choices.
I remember how leaders like Von der Leyen were chosen in secretive rooms (unlike previous EU leaders), and the Parliament just mindlessly rubber-stamps whatever is presented to them. These people are vetted in US embassies and European countries and intelligence agencies should, for one, work for their countries exposing the scheme.
We, the people, both in Europe and the US, should stop the infighting, left vs right, and reframe it as status quo vs awakening political candidates, and give people a feel again of a reason to vote. The racist right in Europe grows because it offers an alternative. Let’s strip the racism and hatred from those parties and grab back their urgent demand for change that society is calling for and the masses will follow. I still have to come across a single party that does that.
I lived in the US for many, many years. I had acquired and priced what made me become and its people, from ALL political backgrounds. But for a decade now I have warned Europeans that excess reliance on the US political class is poison for Europe (and the world, really). I think many politicians in Europe have realized this in the last two years too, but are just trying to weather it out until Trump is out of office. Not so, the political aim of the US elite is to drain its allies dry as their contest with China persists. The political difference lies in the methodology, not the final objective. Trump does it abruptly, while many Republicans want to do it more subtly. Democrats, and sorry, most of the cheered progressive Democrats fall in here too, just want to milk the cash-cow a bit longer, but their aim is also to drain allies, though cleverly, trying not to antagonize them in the process.
The future of Europe is not to compete directly against the US or China, that is not possible, but to try to be the Switzerland of the world: a neutral economic area where US, Chinese or Brazilian capital is safe, where researchers from Russia, China, Taiwan or Singapore feel safe and wanted, where there are no discriminatory bans and the rule of law is supreme and predictably independent. The leaders of the EU, as good obedient pro-US leaders they are, are steering the EU in the exact opposite direction, leaving no third player in a world dominated by the US and China as the only choices.
I remember how leaders like Von der Leyen were chosen in secretive rooms (unlike previous EU leaders), and the Parliament just mindlessly rubber-stamps whatever is presented to them. These people are vetted in US embassies and European countries and intelligence agencies should, for one, work for their countries exposing the scheme.
We, the people, both in Europe and the US, should stop the infighting, left vs right, and reframe it as status quo vs awakening political candidates, and give people a feel again of a reason to vote. The racist right in Europe grows because it offers an alternative. Let’s strip the racism and hatred from those parties and grab back their urgent demand for change that society is calling for and the masses will follow. I still have to come across a single party that does that.