End of an era. The transformation under way in the United States is having a deep effect on Euro-American relations. Without necessarily needing to have exclusive or rare information, but just re-ordering the information that is available to everyone and taking it as a whole, the observation can be made that there is a progressive and radical distance taking shape between Washington and Europe. Euro-American brotherhood has for long been a global reality - ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and of course political. Yet it has progressively become weaker and is now dissolving. It's not so much Europe that is changing, but the US that is undergoing transformation. Forms of alliance, cooperation and friendship continue to exist and will continue to do so - but in other shapes and with new meaning.
Asian development. These comments are not a criticism but an observation. In some American regions, the white man is gradually being replaced by people of Asian origin in particular - who have successfully set up home there. In Lincoln, the capital of Nebraska, immigrants from Vietnam now manage everything - including the local police. This is a modest example of a huge development. The US Census Bureau confirms that immigration now comes from Asia in particular, and an enquiry has corroborated that Asian immigrants have overtaken those from the American continent - including from Mexico.
Illegal kids. One of President Obama's recent moves has highlighted another development. He asked Congress for the respectable sum of US$4 billion to tackle the avalanche of illegal kids that are crossing the Southern border of the US all alone. The objective of this funding is noble and worthy of the best American traditions. Half of it is intended to strengthen border controls and to organise the repatriation of these illegal young people, and the other half aims to improve assistance to these children, to check if they have refugee status and valid reasons for staying. The generosity of the US is to try to help these children and it is therefore laudable and positive. Yet it's another example of the gradual reduction of people of European origin.
Significant presidential uncertainty. Obama's objective of distancing his country from armed conflicts in the world and gradually reducing the presence of his armed forces on other continents is watched by everyone. But his objective is difficult to bring into reality. Sometimes the presence of these forces still seems necessary and Obama adopts partial and changing measures, which he re-thinks and revises. This results is the impression of a certain confusion, as if he did not himself have any clear ideas. Indeed, his uncertainty and hesitation can partly be explained when one notes, for example, that American armaments granted to Iraq end up in the hands of ISIS rebels (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).
How, in these conditions, can one continue to arm forces that are considered legitimate? How can one not understand Obama's hesitations and the hesitations of the US?
Political misunderstandings. A particular impression has been created by Germany's brusque expulsion of the representative of US intelligence services - a decision that Angela Merkel adopted after learning that at least one German secret agent was collaborating with the American embassy in Berlin. Less visible perhaps, other issues bear political, military and financial weight - like the issue of war planes manufactured in the US, but not used by the US army. And let's not forget the confusing and controversial issue of shale gas either. This column will return to this.
This is not a conclusion. In its time, the US played a crucial role, with Russia, in destroying Nazism, and this enabled Europe to conquer its freedom again and unite. For these historic events, US recognition of Europe continues - and friendship too. But the US is experiencing a global evolution at the centre of which its relations with Europe are changing, and this must be taken into account.
I will return to other significant aspects of this evolving reality.
(FR)