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If nobody is holding up their end of the agreement, what exactly is the problem? If Europe doesn't want to help the US with its egg shortage, what's the big deal if the US doesn't want to help Europe with their artillery shortage?
What's there to be upset about when everyone's abandoning an unspoken agreement that seemingly never existed to begin with? What exactly is being abandoned and why should I care?
American decline and European decline. No loyalty to the American empire because even its very existence is denied. Endless quagmires like the Middle East caused by the ambiguity of America's role on the global stage, and because neither non-intervention nor subjugation are options on the table. The mandate is easily exploited by small groups of influential lobbyists because there's no real underlying direction or imperial identity.
Well, given that the US has never seemed to have any luck imposing its will over its "vassals", it isn't clear to me that the American empire is or ever was.
Pretty much this. Does SS wish the "American Empire" was a real thing? It seems to me that the current tension between the US and the EU boils down to the fact that the alliance of old was forged to create a united front against the Soviets. The Soviets are no more, and with them, an enemy that the "free world" could stand against. Nowadays, we just have a broad, semi-vague "axis of evil" of clear, yet not overt rivals. I think the only remarkable thing is that it has taken so long for the US-Europe alliance to fracture once the USSR was a thing of the past.
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