Mongoose@89: “America cannot exist alone as the last stand of the West. If Europe falls so do we. It is just a matter of time.”

No! I find myself in agreement with most of what you write, but on this we disagree. It cannot be so. It must not be so. Europe has already fallen – the future is being defined elsewhere. The best we can hope for our European friends is that the pace of their decline into historical obscurity is slow.

As Europe slides into the shadows, caught a trap of its own design, the dominant entity on the North American continent has its own very substantial geopolitical advantages – and options.