[coldtea]

Well, it's not like a huge player with tons of resources and bad-will can't buy out politicians in high places even in large Western European countries. Or sponsor the campaigns of people they favor (lackeys).

Or, if the above don't work sometime, straight-out help install military dictatorships -- e.g even in the heart of Europe, in the late sixties:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967%E2...

[happyscrappy]

Relieving Europeans of responsibility for their own government guarantees American power over them. They can complain while still feeling righteous, brilliant.

[coldtea]

>Relieving Europeans of responsibility for their own government guarantees American power over them

It's not like Americans have any greater "responsibility" over their own government.

It sure doesn't work for their best interests -- only for the same private interests and multinationals that also take advantage of Europe (and all post-colonial countries in their sphere of influence).

And it's not like European elites do not benefit from that -- it's just that the majority of those people tends to reside across the Atlantic, and finds it easier and more effective to yield US as their own private economic/diplomatic weapon. For the actual country and the majority of its citizens, they could not care less.

>They can complain while still feeling righteous, brilliant.

Not sure how "feeling righteous" is contradictory with "complaining" (your phrasing seems to imply that).

Your message seems to be: "if you're fucked over by a bully, you don't have the right to complaint, because it's your responsibility to stand up to him".

Well, replace Europeans with black people in the South pre-Civil War. Does that retain the same kind of ring that you intented it to have?