THIS is why European Elites baulk at America's assertiveness

They are wrong. They've been wrong. And they're being called out.

Photo by Calvin Hanson on Unsplash

It's hard, sometimes, to realise that you are one of a multitude caught within pre-prescribed binaries of confected right and wrong. That you think like one of the herd, however hard you try. That most of the time your judgment over certain issues has already been pre-ordained by someone else, without you even detecting it.

While there are certain immutable truths when it comes to morality - largely covered by the Ten Commandments which have provided a global framework for living since the brutishness and violence of the ancient world - a lot else rests upon nuance.

Which itself rests upon having the complete picture. Which when it comes to a war hundreds or thousands of miles away, is unlikely to be at your disposal.

So when it comes to the unfolding Eastenders-like saga that is the soap opera surrounding Ukraine, who is right and wrong?

You may have wondered why I have thus far been so quiet on the topic given all the crazy press conferences and summits.

It’s not because I am waiting for the most popular viewpoint before I pick a side.

It's also not because I don't want to be proven wrong having extolled the virtues of Trump 2.0 to the world. I stiIl think he has propelled a wave of change across the West that’s much needed.

It's also not because I don't have a considerable amount of information at my fingertips. I do.

It's because, I, like the rest of Europe, suddenly feel prodded out of a fugue state by a big blaring wake up call from the other side of the pond.

So let's unpack it all. Together.

1. Ukraine has been beatified by lazy legacy media and image conscience leaders. It's always been a corrupt country. That's not to say most of its people aren’t nice, but the outer reaches of heaven it ain't. It has long had gangs and traffickers and genuine Neo Nazis. It's long had conflict between Ukrainian and Russian speakers. And it has long been caught in a tug of war in the forever proxy battle between “The West” and “Russia”. This is important to remember.

2. Russia invaded Ukraine, and that is categorically BAD. But was it a total surprise? Putin is indeed a prick. But add the context of the above, remove the selfies with the combat-clad Kyiv comedian and the fluttering yellow and blue flags adorned on our public buildings, and then throw in the long time expressed warnings from Russia to the West about FAFO in its backyard, alongside the brazen beguiling by the Brussels-based bloc, and the CIA pre-Maga, to coax the country into their club. The majority of Ukrainians want this. I don’t disagree. But that doesn’t mean that The West wasn’t picking a scab. That then bled.

3. Meanwhile Europe tried to have its cake and eat it. It wanted Russian gas, but also wanted to pinch Ukraine for their own sphere of influence. Of course from our perspective, it would make it ‘One of the good guys’ - but that of course is a Western perspective. Russia and its frenemies in the anti-Western axis have long felt The West is a provocateur, while also losing its position in the fight for global dominance, mainly through self- inflicted injury (as pointed out by JD Vance)

4. So when Putin decided to take his chance, Europe was caught with its pants down. Europe didn't want to take a single chance in return. Fearfulness and unpreparedness, with entwined economies and problematic political permutations meant that while selfies with Zelensky and offering homes to beautiful blonde haired women and their children was easy with fantastically good optics, cutting off gas supplies, slamming on sanctions and rushing over to Kyiv with arms was not so simple. And so European leaders all did the former, talking the talk, but prevaricated over the latter, thus not really walking the walk, and used the excuse that provoking Putin would mean World War Three to disguise their ineptitude and hypocrisy.

5. (Now, however, after intransigence and fury from Trump, they are shaking each other down over who is planning to put more troops into Ukraine than the other, yet the idea that this would create World War has somehow dissipated?)

6. Remember, America is not in Europe. It has watched all of this take place from afar while writing cheque after cheque that disappears into a war of attrition with no proof of purchase and no obvious returns. Other than mitigating the Biden family’s already pre-pardoned corrupt collisions with shadowy figures in Kyiv. The war provided a solid distraction from that. But other than being told they are the guarantor for global peace, you can see why many people in The States don't get it. And for populist Trump, that means enough is enough. Particularly when Europe itself can't seem to save itself, from itself.

7. America has a population of over 300 Million. The combined European NATO states, 500 million. Yet when it came to coughing up for Peace In Europe, America was doing a lot of heavy lifting. We can argue the toss from news studios in London and Paris about what America's international obligations and opportunities are, but the truth is many Americans don't understand why they are underwriting a forever war in a country they've barely heard of as much as a Czech citizen would question why their taxes were affording interventions if Brazil invaded Panama on America’s doorstep.

8. Trump has always said ‘America First’. And like all proxy battles, at the crux of it is access to resources. And in the 21st century, this means not only gas and oil but rare earths. To face down China in the AI arms race, who America considers enemy number 1, they need the minerals. And the blank cheques that had been written to Ukraine gives America a moral pathway to seizing them without aggressive action. Doubtless this was always a thought in the back of the Pentagon's Head.

9. But we’re all mates together! clamour European leaders. Yet while America has faced China starting a fentanyl pandemic and ripping off their EV market, Europe sniffs around Beijing like a panting lapdog in order to achieve the fantastical and masochistic net zero targets that got them into the doom loop of decline in the first place. The same boneheaded posturing that left them dependent on Russian gas and made Putin believe he could do what he wants. Including precipitating mass migratory flows and disinformation campaigns and watching on with glee as European leaders got caught up in the Refugees Welcome and Trans Lives Matter nonsense.

10. And let's not forget that European leaders expended A LOT of energy slagging off Trump for not doing those same idiotic things for the best part of a decade. Now they want to tell him how much he needs to do for them when they are unable to organise a piss up in a brewery. What's the old adage about treating people with respect as you never know when they might become your boss?

11. And let's think about America right now. It knows what Putin is up to. It knows that if Russia were allowed to keep all of the seized coastal regions of Ukraine he can play silly buggers with the vital traffic of fertiliser, grain, cooking oils and energy and trigger Global inflation. So they are going for Drill Baby Drill and wants Europe to do the same. Instead, America wants to strike a deal that puts Putin in a corner while building him a ‘Golden Bridge’, because short of bumping him off, it’s the best that can happen right now, and all the while it wants Europe to finally understand that the Liberal Left-Tard virtue signalling politics of the past quarter of a century do not work and America shouldn’t have to ride to the rescue every time Europe fails to self administer a much needed dose of Real Politik. And so Trump set about his way with the delicacy of a sledge hammer to force Europe to get real. And at first glance, it is partially working. Defense spending is increasing and European leaders are finally contemplating doing more than gesture politics when it comes to defending their turf. But when it comes to Net Zero and Free Speech, all bound together in the same mess of pathetic political posturing, the European Elites would first have to admit they are wrong, and have been wrong for decades. And admit that to their own people.

So there we have it. That is, crudely speaking, the state of play.

Now for the likes of you and I, it’s immaterial whether we do more with regards to Ukraine. We have to. And if we do that while also trying to Make Europe Great Again, we stand more than a decent chance of being able to Take Back Control. (Oh the slogans).

The problem is those other issues. It doesn’t matter how much people vote for a radical change of leadership in Europe, from Brexit to the AFD to Rassemblement, the powers that be are not budging when it comes to the self-defeating politics of Net Zero numbskulledness nor the Suicidal Empathy of being deluged by boat loads of beggars from far away lands.

Unless somehow the Populists ‘win bigly’ we’ll be back in the self-inflicted perma-crisis faster than you can say Glasnost and Perestroika.

Which is also why the new regime in The White House has not disguised their preferences for who they want running our continent.

So what do I think should now happen? Well, it’s fantastical to even assert a roadmap, it’s out of my hands anyway. But in an ideal world we would somehow fast forward becoming energy self sufficient, manufacture again and so build our economies, bolster our farming, arm our troops and protect our borders. Then Putin will be exposed as the pip squeak he really is. If Europe was blazing on all cylinders, Russia would be little more than an annoying neighbour, rather than a feral thug defecating in the front yard.

But what I would say is this:

We should listen to Trump’s bellowing and take it for what it is.

He is hardly speaking in riddles. The message is clear.

If you don’t want to get sick and weak, you have to stop doing the things that are making you sick and weak.

If only the EU, the legacy media and the cosy cartel of Commissars got it, perhaps then, enough people would, too, to throw these narcissistic naysayers into the dustbin of history and get back to having real world leaders.

I won’t hold my breath.