It's simply not true, as you [Dennis] assert, that Europe "can pretty much do what it wants, free from US pressure." The EU's ineffectual efforts to pursue its interests in the adjoining Middle East, ie. to prevent the American invasion of Iraq, to effect a Palestine peace settlement, and to insulate its banks and corporations from the threat of US sanctions for trading with Iran is, for starters, evidence of who has the greater "heft" on the world stage.
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The EU's failure to derail War Plan Iraq is not evidence of Europe's inability to "do what it wants". It's an example of Washington's refusal to listen to counsel. These are two different things.
The same can be said of the US' support for Tel Aviv against Palestinian aspirations. Washington doesn't listen because our Mayberry Machiavellians still think it's 1945.
Re: US threats of "sanctions" against EU corporations and banks for trading with Iran...
Has EU trade with Iran stopped? What sort of sanctions could the US hope to inflict upon Euro Capital? Could these sanctions be put in place without producing blow back on American Capital? And finally, aren't these threats of economic consequences increasingly weak tea? For a time, Congress seemed to threaten Beijing with some sort of sanctions every week because of currency valuation complaints. How far did/could these threats actually go in the real world of interdependence?
I don't know who's on top and frankly, I don't care since I'm weary of these dinosaurs - enemies of the future one and all. All I know is very few things I use are made by Americans - that seems noteworthy to me. Also, as Peter Lavelle pointed out earlier, the invasion of Iraq has had a profound impact upon the appearance of American competence and "moral leadership". This perception is not an insignificant factor.
Rome died as an *idea* long before her legions lost their potency. Comparative charts, stats and wonkery about industrial outputs aside, I think we're witnessing just such a moment.
.d.