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Niccolo Soldo's avatar

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George Menyhei's avatar

The internal stability of the US is remarkable; USD being the global panic reserve helps. (But there are IRL reasons, independence from shock, a broader anti-fragility, see Norway).

However, on US foreign policy, the "all sticks" is slowly taking a toll. To quote myself 😎

"America is burning international political capital, always choosing coercion over cooperation when it comes to its allies. A rigid enforcement of Washington’s absolute will is the State Department’s default stance. This is almost unprecedented in my lifetime, with one exception: the brief global grieving period right after 9/11; for a short while America got a carte blanche to stomp around as far as the world was concerned. Now however, there’s little sympathy, only fear."

"Chinese foreign policy is all carrots, no sticks. A mutual indifference to each other’s internal politics is expected by Beijing, but that’s it. Even if you disagree with this policy and prefer to be nosy, at least it’s mutual, which as pragmatic as it gets in diplomacy.

I’m not happy about this, I don’t want the West to lose, but I’m not an American, I don’t even have a single vote on the matter. Where I do have a vote is the European Union."

"Having no power of our own, Washington only communicating down to us through sticks and being forced to foot the bill for their adventurous mistakes is the worst possible situation for Europe. It’s humiliating and unsustainable."

The EU needs to have its own foreign policy.

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