#TimothySnyder #OnFreedom #tg946587514 :

The assumption was that wealth would bring rationality, and rationality would bring democracy. During my first spring at Yale, I was invited to a meeting where a major international hydrocarbon firm was being advised about Russia. A colleague with experience at high levels of government said that U.S. policy was grounded in the assumption that capitalism would bring democracy to both Russia and China. I said that this was absurd. I was not invited to such meetings for a while.

#PaulKrugman https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/a-letter-to-europe : A Letter to Europe: You’re stronger than you think. Act like it.

... let me offer some advice, to the Commission and the EU as a whole: Don’t try to appease Trump...

Europe needs to... act like the great power it is — especially given America’s apparent determination to destroy the pillars of its own strength...

When all is said and done, the EU’s true trade surplus is probably less than $100 billion, which is basically rounding error compared with Europe’s $19 trillion GDP.

So America has no legitimate grievances against the EU. Nor does America, as Trump likes to imagine, “hold the cards...”

But isn’t Europe a declining society, increasingly becoming a “museum of past success”? No... These are highly educated, highly competent nations where many things work quite well.

It’s true that European economic growth has lagged US growth for a generation, a point strongly emphasized by last fall’s Draghi Report, which was a much-needed call for reform. But even that report acknowledged that Europe’s lag is basically confined to the tech sector, that the rest of its economy remains quite dynamic...

Obviously lagging behind in the industries of the future is a big deal, and Europe needs to develop a strategy to catch up. But that catchup may be easier than expected given Trump administration’s determination to engage in self-mutilation, crippling the scientific research — and the research universities — that drove past U.S. success.

Of course, if Europe doesn’t rise to the occasion, leadership may move to China instead...

For now, the message for Europe is to stand up for yourself. In trade, in GDP, even in everything but the most advanced technology, you are no more dependent on the United States than the US is on you. There is nothing compelling you to cater to the delusions of America’s mad king.