Long watch but bang on the money
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Britain and France have always been bastions within NATO. Britain, never having been occupied in WW1 or WW2 perhaps learned that we could survive long enough for America to step up. France learned that you might not have enough time for that aid to arrive. We focused on weapon commonality to provide a greater sum than that of individual parts. France, particularly after Suez when the US browbeat both countries, focused on it's ability as a sole actor.
In the light of Trump's actions I can see that both countries were right and both wrong.
We should have focussed on a European commonality of weapon systems rather than build American or going it alone.
None of this would have mattered had America not gone all chimp on us, but now we can see the weaknesses inherent to both pathways.
The good news is that we can fix this. The bad news is that doing so whilst also supporting Ukraine to fight off Putin is going to be more difficult and more expensive than it otherwise would have been - we certainly have to consider confiscation of the Russian funds that we've currently only frozen.
We can't do this whilst also helping Americans to fix American Democracy. Trump might cozy up with Putin, but he hates China so we don't have to worry about them forming a super alliance, plus Putin and Trump are both old, with no natural successor, so we can hope for a partial US reversal at the mid-term elections and a collapse of Trumpism at the next presidential election.
This French politician's speech shows us the way forward. Brexit was our Trumpist moment in that those who voted for it were never really singing from exactly the same hymn sheet and, arguably, were expecting different outcomes that in any case got trampled upon by party politics. With Orban, Ficu and possibly Romanian leadership leaning toward Putin I think that the EU need to work out how to make progress without being held hostage about crucial security issues, so I don't currently advocate Britain rejoining the EU, but it should be possible for us to reassess our trade needs in light of Trump's and work out a better way of cooperating with the EU, the wider European bloc and with Canada and Mexico.
I've put all this down more in hope than in expectation. I feel so shaken by events of the last few months that this seems like the only way that I can see any glimmer of light at the end this long, dark tunnel.