US treats allies as vassals, will face backlash at some point – analysts

America’s continued demands on Europe to take back jihadists captured by the US is an example of Washington's authoritative approach towards its own allies, analysts say, adding that it might lead to a “schism.”

The pressure Washington exerts on Europe while it seeks to make its allies take back Islamist radicals, who left these countries to join Islamic State (IS, former ISIS) and were eventually captured by the US troops and their allies in Syria, clearly shows how the US treats those who consider it to be their “ally,” analysts believe.

It is even “worse” than a 51st state, Jim Jatras, a former US diplomat and Republican Party policy adviser, told RT, adding that “at least, the 50 US states get a vote in Congress, whereas our European vassals do not.”

The bipartisan US establishment, which still controls policy, has only two ways of looking at other countries: satellites or enemies.

In the most recent example of the US’ attempts to outsource the “dirty work” to its vassals, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said that Washington “is not eager” to trial the captured jihadists all by itself but would instead continue to pressure the Europeans into accepting them back.

“We are not eager to simply pick up that responsibility. We think that others have the responsibility, too, and that’s the approach we’re taking,” Bolton told CBS on Sunday.

‘Outrageous blackmail’

In mid-February, US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that US allies in London, Paris and Berlin, as well as other European nations, have to take back the Islamist radicals. He outright threatened the European nations by saying that the US will “be forced to release” the jihadists if Europe does not comply with Washington's demand.

The call was met with little enthusiasm as the Europeans were predictably reluctant to comply with Washington's ultimatum. Some European states even accused their big brother across the pond of literally blindsiding them with a surprise demand “raised through … a tweet in the middle of the night.”

The US appears to be treating Europe as a sort of an overseas colony – something that the current self-proclaimed global policeman was for the UK in the early days of its history. All Trump's promises to change these US snobbish policies eventually went up in smoke, Jatras believes. Europe, however, is also partly to blame for this sad state of affairs, according to Lode Vanoost, a former deputy speaker of the Belgian parliament.

‘Schism’ is growing

The European authorities have “been much too accommodating to the US ever since WWII,” the former lawmaker told RT, adding that “there have been moments that Europe bowed to US-dominance,” even though the history of the relations between the US and Europe also saw some “strong” disagreements.

Now, the US has lowered itself to openly blackmailing its allies, the Belgian believes. Trump's latest claim about the US potentially releasing dangerous extremists if Europe refuses to take them back is just one of such examples.

That is in itself an outrageous form of blackmail and a horrific abdication of responsibility.

“If the EU-countries decide to accept them, they should not do so because they feel threatened by the US, but because they consider it the right thing to do,” the former lawmaker noted. Such reckless behavior of the US administration might eventually backfire, Vanoost warns.

Europe has grown weary of Trump's political adventures and US allies are increasingly less reluctant to support the big brother in its foreign policy endeavors, he believes.

The US-EU relations, outside appearances aside, are already very strained, for economic reasons as well as for geopolitical reasons.

The EU as well as certain European nations have repeatedly disagreed with the US and even condemned some of Washington's decisions over recent years. Europe refused to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel after Trump did so. It also slammed Washington for its unilateral withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

Trump's ‘America first’ policy and some trade rows with US allies in the West only added fuel to the fire. Support for the US’ overzealous drive aimed at imposing sanctions on Russia under various thought-out pretexts is also waning.

“The EU is certainly not going to impose new sanctions on Russia, there is even talk of alleviating them,” the former lawmaker believes.

The wordings used by EU officials may be very diplomatic and cordial but underneath a profound schism is growing. It is undeniable that this will become more open in the coming years.

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