Westlessness in Afghanistan

“America is back” — only two months ago President Biden toured Europe with this slogan. The G7, NATO and EU-US summits were all meant to reassure European allies. “America is back” stood for America’s got your back. Rest assured, the wild and unpredictable days of the Trump presidency are over. The transatlantic alliance is stronger than ever.

To lend credence to this narrative, Washington DC and Brussels even found low-hanging fruits, such as temporarily suspending all tariffs linked to the Airbus and Boeing dispute.

And it worked. The Biden tour made great headlines. European partners breathed a sigh of relief looking forward to stable and predictable transatlantic relations. But the diplomatic showstopper wasn’t about the transatlantic relationship.

Its purpose was simple: Demonstrate strength against Russia and China.

It was a page out of General Rommel’s media playbook. In order to prevent his British opponents from realising how weak his units were, the so-called “Desert Fox” staged a parade through the streets of Tripoli, where each of his tanks drove past the grandstand three or four times in succession. The intention was simple: feign strength in fake numbers. Biden’s triple summitry served the same purpose.