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Friday, February 3rd, 2017

For Europe, There’s a New Threat in Town: The U.S.

Author:     STEVEN ERLANGER
Source:     The New York Times
Publication Date:     FEB. 2, 2017
 Link: For Europe, There’s a New Threat in Town: The U.S.
Stephan:   The damage being done by the Trump Administration to our long established international relations I predict will alter the international order permanently with long term consequences. The key to successful diplomacy is reliability and honesty. You don't read a lot of stories about Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower hanging up on each other, as happened between Trump and his opposite number in Australia. Allies, I think, will begin to plan with the U.S. not as the lead country, but some combination of other countries taking control. The key to successful diplomacy is reliability and honesty. You don't read a lot of stories about Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower hanging up on each other, as happened between Trump and his opposite number in Australia. Here's where matters stand today.

LONDON — The European Union is accustomed to crises. But it is probably safe to say that none of the 28 leaders who are gathering in Malta on Friday expected the crisis that has unexpectedly overtaken the agenda: the United States of America.

Like much of the world, the European Union is struggling to decipher a President Trump who seems every day to be picking a new fight with a new nation, whether friend or foe. Hopes among European leaders that Mr. Trump’s bombastic tone as a candidate would somehow smooth into a more temperate one as commander in chief are dissipating, replaced by a mounting sense of anxiety and puzzlement over how to proceed.

If many foreign leaders expected a Trump administration to push to renegotiate trade deals, or take a tough line on immigration, few anticipated that he would become an equal opportunity offender. He has insulted or humiliated Mexico, Britain, Germany and Iraq; engaged in […]

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