article is still focused on “we desperately need to make the US our reliable friend, and must continue to make Russia an enemy”

Europe’s urgent task is to relearn how to acquire and wield power; it must be prepared to confront adversaries and sometimes friends, including America, which will still be there after Mr Trump. Instead of cowering, it needs an objective appraisal of the threat.

The objective appraisal of the threat is that EU is protected from US by an ocean. Doing trade based on lowest bidder with counties, like Russia, who have never threatened Europe is orders of magnitude more practical than begging the US to extort it.