Great article. And the EU — the home of Machiavelli and von Clausewitz — forgot an eternal rule: you are either independent or you are not. And if you are dependent, whom you are dependent on is of lesser consequence - be it Russia or LNG supplied by the US. You are not independent, and that has real costs associated. For example, the Japanese in the 1980s would have never signed the economically devastating Plaza Accord with the US, had they not been dependent on the US. And one can argue that the Japanese economy never quite recovered. Dependency is a sweet poison. Europe would do well to remember that before locking itself into another half-century of dependency.
European leaders seem to have learnt nothing from the 2022 Russian fiasco, and the US (despite the narrative all being about the power vacuums it seems to be leaving as an aftermath of this administration’s decisions) on the other side continues to capitalize on strategic decisions.
Having the EU pay for the infrastructure that will allow US companies to make $$$ is having your cake and eating it!
Curious to see how this evolves in the medium and long term. Keep at it, Atlas!
Thank you, really appreciate it. And I think you’re right. Europe may have reduced one dependency, only to replace it with another, far more expensive one! Meanwhile, Washington has been very effective at turning geopolitical disruption into strategic and commercial advantage. Curious to see how sustainable this model remains for Europe over the long run.
Great article. And the EU — the home of Machiavelli and von Clausewitz — forgot an eternal rule: you are either independent or you are not. And if you are dependent, whom you are dependent on is of lesser consequence - be it Russia or LNG supplied by the US. You are not independent, and that has real costs associated. For example, the Japanese in the 1980s would have never signed the economically devastating Plaza Accord with the US, had they not been dependent on the US. And one can argue that the Japanese economy never quite recovered. Dependency is a sweet poison. Europe would do well to remember that before locking itself into another half-century of dependency.
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it!
Thank you once again for an excellent piece!
European leaders seem to have learnt nothing from the 2022 Russian fiasco, and the US (despite the narrative all being about the power vacuums it seems to be leaving as an aftermath of this administration’s decisions) on the other side continues to capitalize on strategic decisions.
Having the EU pay for the infrastructure that will allow US companies to make $$$ is having your cake and eating it!
Curious to see how this evolves in the medium and long term. Keep at it, Atlas!
Thank you, really appreciate it. And I think you’re right. Europe may have reduced one dependency, only to replace it with another, far more expensive one! Meanwhile, Washington has been very effective at turning geopolitical disruption into strategic and commercial advantage. Curious to see how sustainable this model remains for Europe over the long run.