...but there is now a clarity across Europe, and not just in Paris, that regardless of Vance’s reassurance, Europe has to have the capability to operate autonomously of the US. Trump is self-evidently not reliable, and his benign assessment of Putin’s intentions is not shared.

Planning for a European reassurance force in Ukraine is under way, as is planning for a potential Russian attack on Europe. Since February, France and the UK, through a combined joint expeditionary force, have formed the nucleus of that planning, but this has broadened, with new political leadership increasingly coming from four members of the Weimar+ group: Poland, France, Germany and the UK.

Honestly, I think Europe's disillusionment with us will be better for them in the long run. The fact that they were waiting on Biden to take the lead in Ukraine, whose fecklessness over lending credence to Russia's prima facie bogus claim of the war being US vs Russia made him hold back many strategic options from Ukraine, meant that they were also not thinking about what Russia's aggression meant for them, and reacting accordingly.

I think the original purpose of Article 5 (in terms of US intervening vs Russia) has probably been dead for a couple decades now, and it's good that Europe won't be finding that out when Russian troops are rolling in, and the US backs off.

The thing that pisses me off the most these days is Westerners thinking the "rules-based" order ever mattered. It's not in retreat because there were never rules protecting small states from oppression by stronger actors; it was just out of sight from Westerners until 2022.

In Gaza the world has watched as a blockade on food, aid and medical supplies, in defiance of binding orders by the international court of justice (ICJ), has now entered into its third month. Israel, in search of security, has in the past month bombed Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. It is daily urging the US to be given permission to bomb Iran.

Yeah the only new part is that they're looking to pick a direct fight with Iran. Own this shit already you pussies.

Unfortunately can't read the article without accepting cookies, but the exerpt you shared is indeed poignant and mirrors my own thinking recently. Nothing about the current global climate is encouraging.