Suddenly, the idea put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron late last year does not seem so far-fetched or untenable after all. Following the hurried US-NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, European countries are now forced to think the once unthinkable: their own gradual dismantling of US dominance. “We, some countries more than others, gave up on our strategic independence by depending too much on American weapons systems,” uttered Macron on 29 September last year. The context of his statement had little to do with Afghanistan. Instead, Europe was angry at the bullying tactics used by former US President Donald Trump and sought alternatives to US leadership. The latter has treated NATO — actually, all of Europe — with such disdain, that … Continue reading Post-Afghanistan defeat, can the EU win its own ‘independence’ from the US?