41 h. ago Trump is wrong: ‘woke’ policies aren’t the real threat to Europe | Nouriel Roubini

The continent’s problems are not caused by immigration or cultural politics but by economic and technological declineDonald Trump’s new national security strategy offers a misguided assessment of Europe, long regarded as the US’s most reliable ally. Unrestrained immigration and other policies derided by administration officials as “woke”, it warns, could lead to “civilisational erasure” within a few decades.That argument rests on a fundamental misreading of Europe’s current predicament. While the EU does face an existential threat, it has little to do with immigration or cultural politics. In fact, the share of foreign-born residents in the US is slightly higher than in Europe. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘Like Maga disciples’: meet the Trump envoys raising eyebrows in Europe

US president has been blatant in his appointment of relatives, close friends and big donors – almost none of whom have diplomatic experienceWhen your goal is to “help Europe correct its current trajectory” because it is “weak”, “decaying” and facing “civilisational erasure”, your choice of highly trained operatives for the mission is plainly of paramount importance.In Donald Trump’s case they include: a former burger magnate; his eldest son’s former fiancee; the owner of the Houston Rockets basketball team; a producer of Broadway musicals; PayPal’s co-founder; and a convicted felon who is also his son-in-law’s father. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Europe is a continent soaked in economic pessimism. Until we change that, the far right will rise and rise | Owen Jones

Since 2008, struggling communities have been told they are in competition with migrants. Only a model that gives them hope will halt the populists How much does Europe’s future resemble its gruesome past? That question was already pressing before Donald Trump retook the White House, and turned support for the European far-right “patriotic” parties into US policy. That is, of course, what his newly published National Security Strategy means, committing the US to “cultivating resistance” in European nations against the supposed “civilisational erasure” represented by immigration.With or without US interference, far-right authoritarianism is now an entirely plausible European future, unless there is drastic change. After all, it is already the US’s present reality. American exceptionalism once held that such an outcome was impossible in the world’s oldest continuous constitutional republic, with its system of separation of powers and no history of despotism. Yet the country is now rule...

Economics

3 w. ago Donald Trump is pursuing regime change – in Europe | Jonathan Freedland

The US made it clear this week that it plans to help the parties of the European far right gain power. Keir Starmer and his fellow leaders have to face this new realityWhen are we going to get the message? I joked a few months back that, when it comes to Donald Trump, Europe needs to learn from Sex and the City’s Miranda Hobbes and realise that “He’s just not that into you”. After this past week, it’s clear that understates the problem. Trump’s America is not merely indifferent to Europe – it’s positively hostile to it. That has enormous implications for the continent and for Britain, which too many of our leaders still refuse to face.The depth of US hostility was revealed most explicitly in the new US national security strategy, or NSS, a 29-page document that serves as a formal statement of the foreign policy of the second Trump administration. There is much there to lament, starting with the sceptical quote marks that appear around the sole reference to “climate change”, but the ...

Politics

3 w. ago The facts are stark: Europe must open the door to migrants, or face its own extinction | George Monbiot

Plummeting birth rates mean that without attracting immigration, many countries are sliding towards collapseI know what “civilisational erasure” looks like: I’ve seen the graph. The European Commission published it in March. It’s a chart of total fertility rate: the average number of children born per woman. After a minor bump over the past 20 years, the EU rate appears to be declining once more, and now stands at 1.38. The UK’s is 1.44. A population’s replacement rate is 2.1. You may or may not see this as a disaster, but the maths doesn’t care what you think. We are gliding, as if by gravitational force, towards the ground.Civilisational erasure is the term the Trump administration used in its new national security strategy, published last week. It claimed that immigration, among other factors, will result in the destruction of European civilisation. In reality, without immigration there will be no Europe, no civilisation and no one left to argue about it.George Monbiot is a Guard...

Events

3 w. ago 'Leaked document shows US wants to pull four countries "away from the EU" as part of Make Europe Great Again strategy'

The secret file, reported by Defense One, supposedly claims Washington intends to withdraw Austria, Italy , Hungary and Poland from the EU altogether.

Culture

3 w. ago 'Leaked document shows US wants to pull four countries out of the EU as part of Make Europe Great Again strategy'

The secret file, reported by Defense One, supposedly claims Washington intends to withdraw Austria, Italy , Hungary and Poland from the EU altogether.

Culture

3 w. ago Nicola Jennings on Donald Trump and the ‘civilisational erasure’ of Europe – cartoon

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Politics

3 w. ago AfD responds to Trump ‘erasure’ claims with call for nationalist revival in Europe

Continent’s other nationalist parties wary of echoing sentiments of US president due to his unpopularity with voters Europe live – latest updatesGermany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has responded to US claims that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” by saying it backs efforts for a nationalist revival on the continent – but other nationalist parties in the EU are far more cautious.“The AfD is fighting alongside its international friends for a conservative renaissance,” the party’s foreign policy spokesperson, Markus Frohnmaier, said on Wednesday, adding that he would meet Maga Republicans in Washington and New York this week. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago The sinister conspiracy theory behind Trump’s blistering attacks on Europe

Trump’s brutal attacks on Europe, which follow his new international policy claims that Europe faces ‘civilisation erasure’, are a boost to far right and conspiracy theorists, says world affairs editor Sam Kiley

Politics

3 w. ago The US is not just Europe’s unwilling ally, but an adversary steeped in far

Don’t say you weren’t warned: Trump’s new national security strategy seeks to destroy liberal democracy as we know itOn the same day that Donald Trump received his made-to-order “peace prize” from his newest pal, Fifa president “Johnny” Infantino, his administration published an equally gaudy national security strategy. The relatively short document oozes Trump and Trumpism. It starts out with the typically modest claim that the president has brought “our nation – and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster”.Even if the strategy mostly formalises the ongoing actions and statements of Trump and his administration, it should be heeded as a warning for the world, and Europe in particular.Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump’s new doctrine confirms it. Ready or not, Europe is on its own | Georg Riekeles and Varg Folkman

We can move from defensive crouch to position of strength but only if we use the economic cards we have against US coercionEurope is on a trajectory towards nothing less than “civilisational erasure”, the Trump administration claims in its extraordinary new National Security Strategy, a document that blames European integration and “activities of the European Union that undermine political liberty and sovereignty” for some of the continent’s deepest problems.Everybody should have seen it coming after Washington’s humiliating 28-point plan for Ukraine. JD Vance’s shocking Munich speech in February, in which he suggested that Europe’s democracies were not worth defending was an early red flag. But the new words still land as a shock. The security document is the clearest signal yet of how brutally and transactionally Washington wants to engage with the continent. It marks another phase in Trump’s attempt to reshape Europe in his ideological image while at the same time abandoning it m...

Politics

3 w. ago Kremlin hails Trump’s national security strategy as aligned with Russia’s vision

Moscow welcomes White House document critical of the EU as talks to end the Ukraine war enter a key phaseThe Kremlin has heaped praise on Donald Trump’s latest national security strategy, calling it an encouraging change of policy that largely aligns with Russian thinking.The remarks follow the publication of a White House document on Friday that criticises the EU and says Europe is at risk of “civilisational erasure”, while making clear the US is keen to establish better relations with Russia. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago ‘Civilisational erasure’: US strategy document appears to echo far

Official text, signed by Donald Trump, outlines plan to ‘cultivate resistance’ in EU nations to their ‘current trajectory’Donald Trump’s administration has said that Europe faces “civilisational erasure” within the next two decades as a result of migration and EU integration. In a policy document, it argues that the US must “cultivate resistance” within the continent to “Europe’s current trajectory”.Billed as “a roadmap to ensure America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth”, the US National Security Strategy makes explicit Washington’s support for Europe’s far-right parties. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago ‘Cultivate resistance’: policy paper lays bare Trump support for Europe’s far right

Text signed by president seems to echo ‘great replacement’ theory, saying Europe faces ‘civilisational erasure’ Donald Trump’s administration has said Europe faces “civilisational erasure” within the next two decades as a result of migration and EU integration, arguing in a policy document that the US must “cultivate resistance” within the continent to “Europe’s current trajectory”.Billed as “a roadmap to ensure America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth”, the US National Security Strategy makes explicit Washington’s support for Europe’s far-right parties. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Trump warns Europe faces ‘civilisational erasure’ within 20 years because of migration & EU in explosive new report

TRUMP has warned Europe will face a "civilisational erasure" within 20 years. The bombshell remarks blame the EU and migration for what Trump anticipates will be Europe's downfall. The claims come from the official US National Security Strategy released overnight, which tells of the broad continental decline Europe will soon face. A "total cultural unravelling"...

Events

4 w. ago Trump warns European nations are under threat of 'civilisational erasure' and will be 'unrecognisable' within the next 20 years

Donald Trump has warned European nations that they are under threat of 'civilisational erasure' and will be 'unrecognisable' in the next 20 years. 

Events

4 w. ago Donald Trump LIVE: President warns Europe under threat of 'civilisational erasure'

Donald Trump and his administration have claimed Europe faces total cultural unravelling in the new US National Security strategy

Events