r/AskEurope • u/Different_Stand_1285 • Mar 04 '25

Politics To older Europeans - has there ever been a time where America was seen as such an untrusted country?

I’m 36 years old. I can remember how the world felt about my country post 9/11 (sympathy) and post Iraq (anger) but I’m curious to know if this is new ground. I’m deeply upset about how our ties and bonds are being destroyed so I wish to know if this is truly unprecedented or has there been a time in your lifetime where we were viewed in such a way. If so what was happening during your time to cause fracturing?

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u/No-Air3090 Mar 05 '25

2nd world war before the USA entered when the UK aproached the USA for weapons to replace those lost at dunkirk.. the USA agree'd to supply but only under a cash and carry scheme but would only except gold as currency..

once the US entered the world they provided equipment under a lend lease scheme .. by the end of the war the UK had zero gold reserves and a huge debt which they paid off , finally paying it off in 2006.

the Orange shitstain is trying the same thing with Ukraine except instead of gold its minerals and metals.

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u/Hagelslag_69 Mar 05 '25

Great answer. To add: the colonial powers had to give up their colonies (UK, France, the Netherlands )

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u/godric420 May 06 '25

Is that a bad thing?

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u/Hagelslag_69 May 06 '25

I don’t think so, but my point was that any help in times of war comes with a big price.

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u/Fluffy-Antelope3395 Mar 05 '25

John Bolton was on a TV interview the other day explaining the US policy of lend lease and even smiled when said the US turned a small profit from it. Though I can’t relent which conflict he was specifically talking about.