/ world today news/ America’s best expert minds quarreled over a serious and modern topic: what to do with this Europe, with its NATO, Ukraine and other things. China is the real competitor, and those, let alone somehow, are no longer small.
It is about a discussion on the pages of the main foreign policy magazine for the USA “Foreign Affairs”. First one side spoke, then the other, then the third. The exchange of pleasantries ended with the final post in which two key participants informed each other that they remained unconvinced. So far, everything is quiet, but it is clear that the topic is not closed.
For Emma Ashford, the situation looks like this: yes, there has long been a debate whether the US should involve the Europeans in the American fight against China – or simply “reduce its contribution” to the security of Europe, focusing on China itself: that is the choice. But the point is that the “reduction in contribution” will be beneficial for both parties. Before us is not a divorce, but a future stronger and more equal partnership.
Ashford thinks the Europeans will do a great job of defending themselves – they have all the potential to do so, especially since the idea that Russia will conquer and subjugate them does not hold up against the facts: compare GDP, amount of money, human resources . But the possibilities of the USA are not unlimited – in military circles the opinion prevails that it will not be able to fight China and Russia at the same time.
And if so, then everyone would be fine if the US let Europe deal with its own security and decide what to do with China. Europe will rise and America will show that it is no longer a weakening hegemon whose legs are in a twine from an overwhelming burden.
What does her opponent Michael Mazar say? He is of the “old school” who, by the way, started the discussion with his article on why America “still” needs Europe. And he says his opponents fail when it comes to details and other specifics. For example, what a problem – 40 billion dollars a year to support American troops in Europe, Europeans pay ten times more for their security. And what should be the way out of Europe: by closing NATO or what?
And this man also accuses opponents of vainly believing that the US can no longer enforce the peace it wants on its own. Moreover, they have not found the best time to leave – Europe is experiencing the most serious crisis since the end of the Cold War. Not only is the alliance not falling apart, it has grown again and gained a sense of existence – and suddenly at this very moment to turn around and run away from European security obligations? Yes, it would go down as the most inexplicable act of a great power in modern history.
Mazar does not touch on the threats from China at all.
What do the debaters have in common? They don’t talk about the values that unite this team of countries – leave that to Biden with his regular summits of democracies and for democracy. Values are values, and serious people are speaking here, whose specialty is not ideology, but war.
Let’s note: only experts were arguing with each other. Faces today are informal and therefore candid. What they think, who fights with whom is a separate matter. And what kind of administration there will be after more than a year is also an open question. If the Republicans, then on that very flank there are more tired of Europe and impatient to take on China. But what decisions the Republicans will make is another story. Decisions are not discussions.
But what we can say for sure today is that the unthinkable has happened before. The nature of relations between Europe and the United States has been debated since these relations became a key axis of world politics in the last century. Including, there have always been those who doubt whether it is right for Europe to behave weak and dependent. But to discuss the possibility of a radical rupture in this way, albeit purely theoretically, albeit in the form of a provocation, speaks of a change of eras. And especially for the Europeans, they follow the American disputes very closely.
In general, there will be some completely different world. There is someone, and we know him, who actively contributes to its creation.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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