Regime Change for the USA

Ben Wildsmith

In the bizarre paradigm that Donald Trump has forced upon the world, his reliable advantage has been the loyalty that other leaders have to conventions that seemingly no longer serve a purpose.

With each new outrage against accepted practice, Trump has ploughed through the diplomatic handwringing of his supposed allies and brushed aside objections without reference to any pretence of morality. He can do it, so he’s doing it, end of discussion.

For Europeans, this has been a traumatic change of style, and since Greenland came into play, substance too. Common purpose with the USA has been the foundation of European statecraft since World War II.

In return for protection, Europe has been content to remain largely passive on the world stage, lending a hand when asked, and deferring to the USA as its senior partner.

When the pendulum of American politics swung only so far, it was predictable enough as a partner for European nations not to question this relationship.

Whilst America could become more bellicose under presidents such as Reagan or either Bush, the nation’s attitude towards Europe, and by extension the UK, was a largely settled component of foreign policy that continued regardless of political change.

Understandably, we now look at that cosy arrangement wistfully. It seems that in the blink of an eye we have been yanked from geopolitical comfort and plunged into a new world of danger and uncertainty. Can’t we have that nice Mr Obama back?

The reality is that Trump, who may well not understand diplomatic precedent, and is certainly unconcerned about breaking it, has awoken Europe from an unethical and hypocritical slumber.

Because, even under its most progressive leaders, the USA has pursued a larcenous foreign policy with our tacit approval. What’s happening to Denmark now will come as no surprise to anybody in the Middle East or South America, where failure to play ball with US corporations has routinely coincided with presidential helicopter crashes and military coups d’etats.

Throughout decades of this Europe has done virtually nothing to curb American excesses on the world stage, accepting free military protection and playing along with the fiction that we share a uniquely virtuous approach to human rights. Meanwhile, overseas deaths resulting from American military actions since WWII stand between 8-11 million.

So, take away the privilege of free protection from other supposed threats and how do we feel, as Europeans, about our relationship with the USA? Could it be that the sneering contempt of Donald J Trump is a truer representation of our ally than the polished routines of Obama, Clinton, Kennedy and the rest?

Standard American practice

Nothing Trump is doing differs from standard American practice around the world, what’s changed is that he feels no need to fabricate justifications for it and he’s happy to include Europe as a target.

The rest of the world has every right to raise an eyebrow at European horror over Greenland and wonder why we are so surprised.

So, what to do? Well, there’s no appeasing it, that’s for sure. Everything that has been laid at the door of Putin’s Russia applies to Trump’s America.

The mere suggestion of annexing Greenland renders NATO a defunct organisation upon which nobody in Europe can rely.

It is time to stop hoping that America will return to its previous incarnation and engage with the reality of what it has become. A hollowed-out alliance with this unpredictable, violent, and acquisitive entity is not in Europe’s interests.

It is time to signal that new relationships with Russia and China will be on the table unless the USA ends all talk of taking European land. It is time to speak over the heads of the Trump administration and address Americans directly.

If they value their relationship with Europe, they should be effecting regime change at the earliest opportunity. If not, they are on their own.