Europeans should get used to it: with Python, it will be America first

Yes of course, French President Emmanuel Macron responds to a question raised by journalists during the G7 summit in Wales in June.

All the smiles along with the US President seemed to be trusted by the French President Joe Biden who came to reassure his allies. After four years of difficult relations under the Trump administration, the United States has reaffirmed its commitment to multilateral and traditional alliances.

A few weeks later, it was time for US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, a French-speaking speaker who grew up in Paris, to tour Europe. The United States has no better friend in the world than GermanyHe said during a stop in Berlin.

About two months after this beautiful move, Washington’s administration on the Afghanistan issue raised questions in European chancellors about the White House, which ensured a better relationship for them.

I think it’s an open secret that it was badly received, Says Roland Freudenstein, policy director of the Wilfried Martens Center for European Studies in Brussels.

This week, the governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom made a plea to the United States: The question of creating a tough evacuation operation at Kabul airport should keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan until August 31.

These European appeals did not work. President Biden reiterated his goal: The U.S. military will leave Afghanistan on August 31 to end the Taliban’s campaign to oust the United States.

You have helpless Europeans, Notes former French ambassador to the United States Gerard Arrott, who said that despite his warm tone, President Biden was not committed to greater partnership with his allies across the Atlantic.

A country’s foreign policy does not depend on a president. Obama, Trump and Biden, have a basic sequel. Obviously, the pattern is changing, Adds the former diplomat, provoking the will of the United States Can no longer be a world cop.

A foreign policy guided by domestic policy

While Joe Biden has been widely criticized at home and abroad for managing the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the decision to end the military presence in this country, an idea previously defended by Donald Trump, is still gaining support among the majority of the American people.

For example, a Suffolk University survey was conducted on behalf of USA Today, This week showed that while only 26% of respondents agreed to manage the file by the Biden administration, 53% of them supported the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Some elites may want to see America as the leader of the West, but in reality Americans are isolated, self-centered, and that is not going to change., Explains Joseph de Weck, a researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

According to him, this chapter reminds European countries that if they want to, they have to take steps accordingly Carry out an independent policy and make their own choices.

However, according to Roland Freudenstein of the Wilfried Mortons Center for European Studies, without an increase in their defense budgets, European leaders would not be able to do without US support, despite the critical speeches of some of them against Washington.

It is absurd to say that Americans cannot be trusted and that we must stand up for ourselves. Good luck with that; It does not work, He says.

Although recently tested, Atlantic cooperation is particularly important to manage relations with Russia and China, but also to combat climate change.

In Europe, however, if the face and tone have changed over the past few weeks, the news coming across the Atlantic is the same: it will be America first; First America.