How to get rid of America
Recent events in the White House and elsewhere have provoked strong sentiments in Europe (without Hungary and Slovakia). The sentiment runs along the line "we are too dependent on America; how can we rid ourselves of American elements in our work and daily routine?"
Some European companies said they will stop selling their products to America. Others stop selling fuel to American ships. But in everyday life, eliminating America is difficult. Google search and Yahoo email can be substituted by Qwant (the excellent French search engine) and a zillion of local email providers. Still, there are the omnipresent Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Tiktok (wrong, that's Chinese!) Which reminds me that some time ago we endeavored to limit the Chinese overreach on the web (Shein, Alibaba, Tencent, Temu...).
Should we now look for Chinese companies to substitute for McDonald's (why Donald, for heaven's sake?), Microsoft or Tesla (oops, wasn't Tesla made in Shanghai?). China vs.US -- isn't that like Scylla vs. Charybdis? If we try to eliminate both the US and China from our lives we will probably discover that we had already eliminated another scoundrel: Russia. It seems, our world is shrinking because more countries we once considered friends or partners have become unfriendly or outright enemies. Pity.
--ed
Michael Bociurkiw suspects Trump insulted Zelensky during the White House shouting match because the planned rare earth deal between the US and Ukraine had been watered down so much that the Trump team had decided to drop it (and Ukraine and Zelensky with it). Other observers considered the rare earth deal to be based on unreliable data and doubted if any US companies would invest in the highly endangered Ukraine. Perhaps Trump took advantage of Zelensky's visit to dump the deal without having to confess that his project had turned out to be a bubble.
Moscow must be stunned by the sudden turn of events. Zelensky has been promoted by Trump from hero to martyr+hero, a unique combination which immediately played out in London where Zelensky was not only hugged by Prime Minister Keir Starmer but was offered to be received by King Charles: a unique honor never before granted to a foreign politician.
As European leaders prepare for a summit in London on Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico are challenging the EU’s united front on Ukraine, pushing positions that echo the Kremlin’s stance.
In a letter to European Council President António Costa dated Saturday, Orbán called for the EU to engage in direct cease-fire negotiations with Russia, mirroring U.S. efforts under Donald Trump.
Slovak Prime Minister Fico said his country would refuse financial or military support to Kyiv and dismissed the West’s “peace through strength” approach as unrealistic.
One thing Trump achieved during the White House spat: the (almost) complete re-unification of Europe. A new Europe is rising from the embers of the White House fire, united in exclaiming No Putin, No Trump, no Vance! Of course, there are European voices cautioning against confrontation with Washington, urging continued US support for Ukraine. But at heart, Europe knows that Trump does not care at all about Ukraine and will follow through with implementing Moscow's views. Trump is forcing Europe to become a world power, able to defend itself and its neighbors. Nothing short of a European miracle is needed.
