European states need to start urgent work to prepare for a future era of increased conflict without American firepower to fall back on, says Warsaw Security Forum professor.
The comfortable era of prosperity and the welfare state under the protective umbrella of American defence is ending and Europe needs to “switch to a war economy”, the director of a top European security forum warns.
The United States is drifting away from Europe as a new generation of voters and politicians focus on the Asia Pacific region rather than over the Atlantic, and European states need to start urgent work to prepare for a future era of increased conflict without American firepower to fall back on, Professor Katarzyna Pisarska of the Warsaw Security Forum has told a top German newspaper.
The political scientist painted a bleak picture of the future for Die Welt, noting that fundamental changes in American society — like demographic change, for instance — is going to make holding Washington’s attention in the future more difficult. She told the paper: “For many younger Americans, including a generation of politicians, Europe is little more than an open-air museum. You feel and are actually closer to Asia and the Pacific region. China is the biggest geopolitical threat for them.
“…The USA is changing, demographically. There has been hardly any immigration from Europe for many decades, but from Asia and of course Latin America. This also changes the priorities of politics.”