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After the mixed martial arts
Handshake[1]
bouts between The Donald and France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, there
have been further signs of strain between the US and Europe. Speaking after
last week’s NATO and G7 meetings, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel called the
G7 meeting ‘six against one’. You can guess who the latter was. In a separate
speech, Merkel also remarked:
‘The times in which we could completely rely upon others are
more or less over. That’s what I have experienced in the last few days … We
Europeans have to take our destiny into our own hands … of course in friendship
with the US, in friendship with Great Britain, also with Russia and other
countries, but we have to know that we fight for our own future as Europeans,
for our destiny.’
Notably, this was an ex-UK
‘Europe’.
Trump’s America First policy
questions how far the US can still pretend to act both as the referee and as
the biggest player in the imperial game. But the election of Trump is not the
only thing that has called into question the ‘western alliance’ of major
powers. Britain’s rejection of EU membership is also a big worry for the
European members, ironically including Britain itself. While Brexit does not
quite hurl the UK into the mid-Atlantic, the Brits are finding it difficult to
keep a happy family together by using anti-Russian propaganda and posturing at
NATO. Not surprisingly, since Brexit has upset the European institutions
established over decades.
Merkel’s call for Europeans to
take charge of their own destiny basically means that the major
continental European powers need to prepare for the breakdown of the former international
order from which they had benefited. It is a striking comment from a German
conservative leader, and one that fits well with a more general European
concern about Trump.
Things are warming up in the
oven of imperial rivalry, not just on the fringes of the imperial system.
[1] Macron won
on points. The Handshake is a relatively new sport in diplomatic
circles. It blends a rictus smile, white knuckle grips and macho, fake bonhomie
arm slapping. The player with steadiest stance and gaze, showing the least
perturbation throughout the 1-2 minute contest, wins. Points are given by the
international news media and on Youtube. See here for example.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/28/emmanuel-macron-my-handshake-with-trump-was-a-moment-of-truth
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