Waitt, What? Again?

Despite the blatant hypocrisy and plethora of mistakes from Europe’s leaders, this right-leaning American writer still holds a soft spot for the old continent. So, why do I care about a place obviously in permanent decline? After all, with the US government electing to negotiate the war in Ukraine directly with nuclear superpower Russia in Saudi Arabia (a rising power) over the heads of European governments, the continent of Europe is fast approaching the geopolitical relevance of its more accurate geographic status: a peninsula. My logic is not only because I have several friends there. For me, the answer boils down to history. Because there is no corner of the planet where a European power did not once control in some form or fashion, it is impossible to understand our own history in the United States, and ultimately the rest of the world, without understanding Europe. The current administration has made clear that the traditional American policy of attempting to insert human rights and molding Middle Eastern societies to look more like our own has been tossed into the dustbin. Gone is the so-called “nation-building” of the Bush era, a policy where Washington believed it could reformulate entire cultures with thousands of years traditions into something dramatically different overnight. Instead, the United States would pursue a more pragmatic, business focused approach promoting regional peace and commerce without interfering in the domestic affairs of the region. Giving legitimacy to a man who spent nearly 20 years fighting under the Al Qaeda and jihadist banners is the ultimate embodiment of this approach.