"A nonmilitary declaration of war between Europe and the U.S."

This is a very dangerous time, ladies and gentlemen. Europe and America are vulnerable, Europe, more so than since 1945, America more so than at any time in her history. The incumbent U.S. administration is in "disarray" organizationally and in policy. The de facto U.S. president has made many statements about Europe and Russia that are destabilizing to the former and encouraging to the latter. There is danger of an enemy, North Korea, Iran perhaps, ISIS, China perhaps, taking advantage of this unique vulnerability and surprise-attacking the Western alliance: South Korea, Japan, Europe, America, in the South China Sea.

And there is danger that with "an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation" in the White House, the security forces of the United States--the military, the CIA (who he doesn't believe), FBI, NSA--could get to the point of acting, of staging a coup d'etat, to save the country from a de facto foreign takeover where the Constitution and 46.1% of the people failed.

 Steven Erlanger of The New York Times writes from the Munich security conference TrumpEurope:

• "They came from all over — diplomats and generals, policy experts and security officials — seeking clues to President Trump’s ideas and intentions."
• "...[T]hey were deeply disturbed by Mr. Trump’s difficulty finding a pliant national security adviser to replace Michael T. Flynn,...by Mr. Trump’s long and rambling news conference on Thursday, [and by his] Saturday...campaign-style rally where he suggested, wrongly, that something terrible had happened in Sweden. 'People were not reassured,' said Daniela Schwarzer, the director of the German Council on Foreign Relations. “'They think that Trump is erratic and incalculable.'"

[That he is, and those three instances, so closely packed together, show that Trump knows that he is in over his head and that when he is in over his head he makes a panicked retreat to his comfort zone, the campaign. To me, that Florida campaign rally is the most psychologically telling. Imagine: He has been president for one month (!), there is no possible need for campaigning and he takes off to hold a campaign rally, replete with signs and zombie followers. It was an escape. He needed the affirmation of his zombies when he could not provide self-affirmation.

[Now combine "erratic and incalculable" to ignorant and truth-averse, add in the "quality" of his advisers, the vacancies in under positions, and imagine the Russians introduce "little green men" into the Baltic states. He doesn't believe the CIA, he believes Putin. "It could be anybody, the Russians, the Chinese, some 400-pound guy on a bed somewhere." Imagine a surprise attack, a la 12/7/41 or 9/11/01. And imagine his response. Mother-fucker'd nuke Mexico! DANGEROUS times Ells and Gees, DANGEROUS times.]

• "Senator John McCain, a conference regular...said that the administration was “in disarray," and added: 'The president, I think, makes statements and on other occasions contradicts himself. So we’ve learned to watch what the president does as opposed to what he says.'”
• "But Ms. Schwarzer said...'What he says also changes reality,' she said. 'If you put NATO or the European Union into doubt, it changes their credibility and damages them.'”

[It does damage their "credibility," as a willful deterrent, as a united body; it makes them feel vulnerable, and to be vulnerable--to Russian interference in their elections, to a military strike in the Baltics--but reality is not changed by words alone. Deeds have to follow. Trump has also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO, to Japan, to U.S. China policy, and against Russian military intervention. He has said, as John McCain said, many things, some of them contradictory. It is best to wait on deeds.]

• "Europeans were 'chilled' when Robert S. Harward, a retired vice admiral, turned down an offer to replace Mr. Flynn because he would not be given autonomy over his staff...'Our allies don’t know who is their interlocutor and what phone number to call'"...
• "Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to Washington who runs the conference, asked if Mr. Trump would 'continue a tradition of half of century of being supportive of the project of European integration, or is he going to continue to advocate E.U. member countries to follow the Brexit example? If he did that, it would amount to a kind of nonmilitary declaration of war. It would mean conflict between Europe and the United States. Is that what the U.S. wants? Is that how he wishes to make America great again?'”

• "On Monday, Mr. Pence will meet in Brussels with officials from the European Union and NATO to try to reassure them about the new administration’s commitment to Europe. 'But they have to hear this directly from Trump because of everything he has said about Russia and Germany,' Mr. Burns said, citing a joint interview with the German newspaper Bild and the Times of London, in which Mr. Trump compared Mr. Putin and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and said he was not sure he would trust either of them."
• "...the Cold War was won not just by weapons but by propaganda and soft power. And on German television, Trump is a joke for everybody. We’re concerned also about American prestige.”-Artis Pabriks, a former Latvian foreign and defense minister and now a member of the European Parliament.

Hey! Enjoy President's Day tomorrow.