Spain and the whole of Europe show their submission to the United States

After the victory over his opponent Kamala Harris and the return to power in the White House of the furious Republican tribune, we find ourselves immersed in a whirlwind that is changing all the parameters of international, global, regional and bilateral relations, in which the United States is the protagonist. History is accelerating on all fronts.

In this process full of unpredictable scenarios, there is one unquestionable norm for governments and opposition political groups, a norm that is conspicuous by its tragic absence: the ability to foresee changes, where we are heading, how to position ourselves in the face of the permanent alteration of international relations. Europe lacks this virtue, as does Spain.

Personalities from the world of politics, finance and new technologies from across the ideological and political spectrum demonstrate their ineptitude by considering ‘the Donald Trump case’ to be a passing epiphenomenon. Some, his worshippers, revere him because they believe he will help them get to power in their small localities, or consolidate it where they already have it. But deep down they are as surprised as everyone else.

Others are convinced that Trump is a passing anomaly and that all they have to do is resist, facing up to ‘the revenge of tariffs’, ‘the punishment of increased defence budgets’, or refusing to accept plans, such as the one in Gaza, in their eyes ‘unviable and an attack on human rights’, which, incidentally, were set by those who won the wars, ignoring them.

Spain and the whole of Europe have demonstrated their dependence on the United States. In defence and security, in the financial sector, in the macro-politics of world trade, the European Union is neither autonomous nor independent.

Pretending to form a ‘common European front’ against the aggressive and disconcerting foreign policy of the White House is a pipe dream. The western bloc is already constituted; and within it there is no balance of power. The one who decides within the bloc is the United States. The only viable option is to negotiate new internal balances.

The proposal made by President Pedro Sánchez to be ‘the world's anti-Trump leader’, to set himself up as a ‘bulwark against authoritarianism’, as a ‘champion against the technocrats’, is, from a global strategic point of view, perfectly stupid. It demonstrates the lack of culture of the Spanish President of the Government, and the total absence of a geopolitical and strategic plan for Spain in today's world.

To say that Spain will support Volodimir Zelenski in his war in Ukraine ‘for as long as necessary’ and ‘regardless of the price to be paid’ seems more like a bluff than the product of reflection.

The Spanish government, its president, as well as the opposition parties, mainly the Partido Popular, do not take into account the analyses and debates that are carried out in the think tanks that exist in the country, both in favour of the government (Elcano Institute, Club Siglo XXI, Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies, Ideas for Progress Foundation, Avanza Foundation and others), and in favour of the opposition (FAES, Institute of Economic Studies, Strategic Studies Group, Rafael del Pino Foundation, Disenso Foundation, Juan de Mariana Institute, Foundation for the Defence of the Spanish Nation, and others), which, by the way, always bring together the same audience and the same speakers.

Government and opposition react to the Donald Trump phenomenon with moral, sentimental and, to a certain extent, ethical positions. But not political and strategic ones. The world is changing, of course, so what role can Spain play? What are its interests? How do they fit in with the Western bloc led by the United States? What points of agreement do they have with other alternative blocs? With the emerging powers? Where does Spain stand with the joint America in the making? Or with the Indo-America that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum talks about?

These are the real problems on the table and the ones on which Spain's future depends. Not the eternal politics of ‘you're worse’, mud-slinging and insults.