Dec 13, 2025 12:49 AM
Here's the new US National Security Strategy. It's creating no end of hysteria and angst among Europeans and globalists everywhere, including here in the United States. (And I agree with pretty much all of it!)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/up...rategy.pdf
This is from the section on Europe...
(p29ff):
"Continental Europe has been losing share of global GDP, down from 25% in 1990 to 14% today, partly owing to national and transnational regulations that undermine creativity and industriousness.
But this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure. The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.
Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies or militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies. Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their current path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.
This lack of self-confidence is most evident in Europe's relationship with Russia. European allies enjoy a significant hard-power advantage over Russia by almost every measure, save nuclear weapons. As a result of Russia's war in Ukraine, European relations with Russia are now deeply attenuated, and many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat. Managing European relations with Russia will require significant US diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.
It is a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, in order to stabilize European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war, and reestablish strategic stability with Russia, as well as enable the post-hostilities reconstruction of Ukraine to enable its survival as a viable state.
The Ukraine war has had the perverse effect of increasing Europe's, especially Germany's, external dependencies. Today, German chemical companies are building some of the world's largest processing plants in China, using Russian gas they cannot obtain at home. The Trump administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition. A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments subversion of democratic processes. It is strategically important to the United States precisely because European states cannot reform themselves if they are trapped in political crisis.
Yet Europe remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States. Transatlantic trade remains one of the pillars of the global economy and of American prosperity. European sectors from manufacturing to technology to energy remain among the world's most robust. Europe is home to cutting-edge scientific research and world-leading cultural institutions. Not only can we not afford to write Europe off, doing so would be self-defeating for what this strategy hopes to achieve....
...
Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize:
Reestablishing conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia.
Enabling Europe to stand on its own feet and operate as a group of aligned sovereign nations, including by taking primary responsibility for its own defense, without being dominated by any adversarial power.
Cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations.
Opening European markets to US goods and services and ensuring fair treatment of US workers and businesses.
Building up the healthy nations of central, eastern and southern Europe through commercial ties, weapons sales, political collaboration and cultural and educational exchanges.
Ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.
Encouraging Europe to take action to combat mercantilist overcapacity, technological theft, cyber espionage, and other hostile economic practices."
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/up...rategy.pdf
This is from the section on Europe...
(p29ff):
"Continental Europe has been losing share of global GDP, down from 25% in 1990 to 14% today, partly owing to national and transnational regulations that undermine creativity and industriousness.
But this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure. The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.
Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies or militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies. Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their current path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.
This lack of self-confidence is most evident in Europe's relationship with Russia. European allies enjoy a significant hard-power advantage over Russia by almost every measure, save nuclear weapons. As a result of Russia's war in Ukraine, European relations with Russia are now deeply attenuated, and many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat. Managing European relations with Russia will require significant US diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.
It is a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, in order to stabilize European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war, and reestablish strategic stability with Russia, as well as enable the post-hostilities reconstruction of Ukraine to enable its survival as a viable state.
The Ukraine war has had the perverse effect of increasing Europe's, especially Germany's, external dependencies. Today, German chemical companies are building some of the world's largest processing plants in China, using Russian gas they cannot obtain at home. The Trump administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition. A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments subversion of democratic processes. It is strategically important to the United States precisely because European states cannot reform themselves if they are trapped in political crisis.
Yet Europe remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States. Transatlantic trade remains one of the pillars of the global economy and of American prosperity. European sectors from manufacturing to technology to energy remain among the world's most robust. Europe is home to cutting-edge scientific research and world-leading cultural institutions. Not only can we not afford to write Europe off, doing so would be self-defeating for what this strategy hopes to achieve....
...
Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize:
Reestablishing conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia.
Enabling Europe to stand on its own feet and operate as a group of aligned sovereign nations, including by taking primary responsibility for its own defense, without being dominated by any adversarial power.
Cultivating resistance to Europe's current trajectory within European nations.
Opening European markets to US goods and services and ensuring fair treatment of US workers and businesses.
Building up the healthy nations of central, eastern and southern Europe through commercial ties, weapons sales, political collaboration and cultural and educational exchanges.
Ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.
Encouraging Europe to take action to combat mercantilist overcapacity, technological theft, cyber espionage, and other hostile economic practices."
