Europe at a Crossroads

Just 250 years ago, America was a colony ruled by European powers. Since then, it has grown into the world’s dominant superpower—thanks to its natural bounty, Constitution, and industrial might. Over the past century, America fought two bloody world wars and an expensive Cold War to save Europe from itself and from the Russian bear next door.

In return for our efforts, we’ve watched it drift left, slashing defense budgets, importing jihad over integration, and elevating bureaucracy over liberty. England prosecutes speech. France riots over a two-year increase in retirement age. Germany dithers as Russian tanks roll into Ukraine. The EU, once a beacon of unity, has become a labyrinth of regulation that stifles innovation and undermines national sovereignty.

And yet, many Europeans dismiss us as crude capitalists who are heartless, loud, and environmentally unaware. The EU continues to harass American companies like Apple and Google. Greenpeace, recently fined $667 million for sabotaging the Dakota Access Pipeline, now seeks to nullify that U.S. verdict through a Dutch court. This is not just a legal maneuver, but a contempt for our rule of law.

Amid this unraveling, the U.S. National Security Strategy broke its diplomatic silence with a bombshell. In stark terms, it casts Europe as a declining civilization, suffocated by its own union—subverted, dependent, and adrift. The tone is paternal, but not without merit. Europe stands at a crossroads between socialism and capitalism, Christianity and Islam, America and Russia, between its proud past and an uncertain future.

Having rescued Europe twice, America is not ready to walk away. Once again, we are trying to save it from itself and, perhaps, shape it in our own image.

This, too, is a hinge in history.

— Sina.