Trigger warning. This blog contains sycophancy in high places.

Those on the pro European Right like Timothy Garton Ash, and most other opinion columnists in the Guardian, even George Monbiot, who have argued that “Europe” should increase military spending to break with the US, and those on the Left who are arguing that there is now a fundamental rift between the US and its subordinate allies, should consider the following three quotes addressed to Donald Trump from former Dutch Prime Minsiter and NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte at the end of the NATO Summit.

“You are flying into another big success”

“Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran. That was truly extraordinary, and something no on else dared to do.”

“It was not easy, but we’ve got them all signed on to 5%! You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done. Europe is going to pay in a BIG way , as they should, and it will be your win. Safe travels, and see you at his Majesty’s dinner.”

“Daddy sometimes has to use strong language.”

And these from Trump describing the 5% target as “something that no one thought possible. And they said ‘you did it, sir, you did it’. Well I don’t know if I did it…but I think I did“ and “a monumental win for the United States” and “a big win for Europe and for actually Western Civilisation” because Europe would be “stepping up to take more responsibility.”

So, there you have it.

Increasing military spending is giving Trump exactly what he wants.

European NATO governmnets will now seek to impoverish their populations and stunt their own development to find the resources to double militray spending.

Europe tooling up for a future continent wide confrontation with Russia gives him a free hand, with his now $1 trillion”defence” budget to prepare for military confrontation with China.

And not only does none of this undermine Trump’s push to domestic authoritarianism; it requires it at home. Proscribing Palestine Action in the UK is part of a drive to a more militarised society in which our children are dragooned into cadet corps, non violent direct action is elided with “terrorism” and Yvette Cooper’s desire to “lower the threshold” for Prevent referrals to catch more “Islamists” is aimed clearly at the mass pro Palestinian movement in an attempt to define dissent of foreign policy as “pre terrorist ideology” that can be legally harassed and crushed even more than it already is.