Doug Sheridan: Europe Has Abdicated Its Energy Leadership Role

[Note: Doug Sheridan is a keen energy analyst and writer who posts commentaries on LinkedIn each day. I read him on a regular basis and, if you are on LinkedIn, you should read him, too.]

Walter Russell Mead writes in the WSJ, as Trump prepares to return to the White House, with the exception of the US, much of the West is sunk in decline. A generation of poor performance in the European Union and Japan means America's traditional partners bring less and less to the table each year. Japan seems to be undergoing an awakening. But many EU allies are contending with three decades of economic, political and strategic failure.

Economically, the EU fails the test of the digital age, generating neither the new technologies nor companies that the 21st-century demands. Their embrace of ruinous climate policies reduces their competitiveness. Their NIMBYism throttles growth, and their unsustainable welfare states further diminish their prospects.