Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

The US might go along with this though to accelerate the decline of Germany's "peaceful" hegemony over the bloc in favor of a "multipolar EU" led by a combination of Poland, France, Italy, and others.

Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz declared on Sunday after the snap elections' results started streaming in that he envisages helping his country "achieve independence" from the US. This is a dramatic statement that few could have foreseen any German leader saying just several months ago but that just goes to show how fundamentally Trump 2.0 is revolutionizing International Relations. Here's what he told a televised roundtable about his foreign policy plans:

"The interventions (meddling) from Washington were no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately outrageous than the interventions we have seen from Moscow. We are under such massive pressure from two sides that my top priority is to create unity in Europe.

My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.

I would never have believed that I would have to say something like that on television. But at the very least, after Donald Trump's statements last week, it is clear that the Americans - at least this part of the Americans in this administration - are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe."