I agree with your assessment tbh, the US has (albeit collapsing) soft and hard power, the EU has much less of their own and rely much more on the US. The empire will first lose their power and vassals in Eurasia/Africa, then retreat to Latin America as their "backyard", then their collapse will be inevitable.

And 100%. I have the displeasure of sharing many spaces with eurolibs/euro"socialists" ... They seem to think imperialism is only a US thing and they are, at best, victims of them themselves , at worst think they themselves are anti-imperialist.

A lot of this ties to Europe's social progress and welfare. The contrast with an American liberal and European liberal is, an American liberal will (even if deflecting blame off themselves or their party) admit some sort of shame regardless of reason, and a small acknowledgement of the US's imperialism, lack of welfare and the capitalist system (well, best case for a liberal I guess).

Europeans do not feel shame at all, since the EU has much more social nets (funded through imperialism, but european Neo-colonialism is a much more buried topic than American) and social progress, they think of themselves as the best and most civilized people in the world, due to them thinking they are not imperialist, have good welfare and "regulated" capitalism.

This, of course, ignores the fact the only reason Europe has been able to "develop" this much is, they are both neocolonial, but are able to spend on welfare due to the US covering a huge part of their military costs (I.e. US funding 50% of NATO budget). The moment NATO became shaky this term under trump, we're already seeing the welfare nets deteriorate rapidly and already Germany demands younger men ask for permission to leave the country, all in the name of remilitarizing the continent lol

Its a long winded comment and disorganized, but I think the US is the beating heart and the body of the empire, Europe is the second largest organ (obviously, does not compare to the US itself, but they have some degree of autonomy within the empire, free to exploit others by themselves). Since the US is the core they are the ones who cover the costs of military and "defense", at the cost of their own domestic people. Europe being a smaller partner of the empire, enjoys the opposite; more imperial spoils for the workers and bourgeoisie at the cost of dependence and barely any actual defense capabilities.

That's why both EU libs smugness of superiority is bullshit, and their ridiculous push to cut the US off. You rely on the US on your existence, there is a clear socialist alternative for these people yet they still believe they can continue to be a "beacon of liberal civilization", without the US's life support, and why the whole buyeuropean movement is hogwash that relies on chauvinism built on nothing, and they'd collapse without the US.

I should make it clear though (preaching to the choir in a leftist space, but still good to say) this is not criticizing European comrades or actual anti-imperialist/progressive movements there, only the false liberal nationalist ones.

TLDR Yankee libs less annoying because they criticize US militarism sometimes, but EU libs are shameless and smug

(9 paragraphs including this one about how much I hate eurolibs lmao, and even then I still feel dissatisfied with this messy explanation God willing I shall write a paper on the evils of the salty Asian subcontinent, with much more organization and with much more rubles to support it )

Question is, how long will the continent put up with absorbing the fallout of America’s decline that America shifts from itself to them before the political and economic strain is too much? Right now the Russo-Ukrainian war has upped the tolerance, but once that comes to some sort of conclusion, it’s going to become increasingly obvious that Europe is getting the short end of the stick on the deal and that China is offering much better terms.

It all points, imo, to the American downfall as being one of those “gradually and then all at once” scenarios. Eventually the one key support pillar will crack, we probably don’t even know for sure which one it is, and everything quickly snowballs around its collapse.