"We must be clear about this: We cannot provide our own nuclear deterrence, nor do we want to. This is why America must remain by our side and protect us."

This German Defense Minister is speaking in incredibly frank terms, which is clear even through the translation barrier. https://twitter.com/BMVg_Bundeswehr/status/1320284771558297601

America's true might as a superpower is not simply one of circumstance and wealth. Forget not that a tiny island once held the entire world at gunpoint for proof that this, alone, is insufficient.

America's true superpower is belief and will.

This defense minister is frankly and openly acknowledging the tensions between America's view of the world; and how much American values have shaped the postwar German political order (for better AND for worse) and how that impacts the German belief and will.

"America is not a hegemon that demands unconditional allegiance. This is without precedent in history."

Pinch me, because I am clearly dreaming

I just saw a pig fly by the window

what is happening

Christ is risen.

Truly, he is risen.

The sudden quiet you heard was thousands of American servicemen buried in French cemeteries ceasing their slow revolutions all at once.

"Freedom" and "democracy" mean nothing if not embraced by the would-be recipients.

And that means you *must* accept the legitimacy of their difference, and their different needs, and the validity of their independent will and agency.

Which is what this DefMin is calling for.

This is all I have ever wanted. This is what Trump offered, that no previous leader did.

The chance to be true allies. To respect the will and agency and difference of others. For our former "conquests" to become gifts in fact, by recognizing the will of the recipients.