As Donald Trump claims Nato forces stayed ‘a little off the front lines’ in Afghanistan, and the Great Greenland Crisis rumbles on, and off, and on again, one thing is clear: Europe keeps threatening to ‘stand up to America’ and every time it does, the effect is roughly equivalent to a damp baguette waved in the general direction of the Pentagon.

Imagine, just for a moment, that Europe calmly announced a ban on American tourists.
The psychological damage would be immense

Why? Because we don’t have the military muscle, the economic leverage or even the diplomatic coherence. We famously disagree on the correct shape of a banana, or the relative evil of Russia.

In this particular brouhaha, we can’t even manage a symbolic boycott of the World Cup. The French have said it’s off the table because they have a justified suspicion they might win again. The Scots will never boycott it, because it’s the first time they’ve qualified since they largely abandoned woad.

Europe cannot slap America with tanks, tariffs or punitive treaties. Any attempt to do so would be a theatrical French mime, with equivalent menace.

But Europe does possess one weapon of extraordinary potency. And that weapon is Europe itself. I mean this quite literally. Europe.........

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