From Prague to Bucharest, flag-lit palaces and elite rituals reveal loyalty, insecurity, and a pricey bid for Washington’s favor
By Ksenia Smertina, senior lecturer on the HSE Institute for Media, knowledgeable on the Russian Worldwide Affairs Council on Jap and Central Europe
July 4 – Independence Day within the US – is a surprisingly standard vacation within the international locations of Central and Jap Europe.
For instance, in Prague, the Czech Ministry of International Affairs determined to light up the historic Cernín Palace within the colours of the American flag till July 5 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of US independence. In Warsaw, iconic authorities buildings and bridges are sometimes equally illuminated. In Romania, the complete nation’s management is ready to assemble for a reception on the US Embassy in Bucharest, the place slogans akin to “strategic partnership with the US is the DNA of Romanian international coverage” shall be clearly articulated.
The recognition of this vacation has been repeatedly performed up within the motion pictures of the area, the place the usual picture of the celebration is a turkey in a typical Khrushchev-era house constructing towards the backdrop of the US nationwide flag. Nonetheless, what was beforehand being performed off as an ironic tackle provincial inferiority complexes is now changing into the official coverage of Central and Jap European international ministries. To grasp this ‘romance’ between ‘New Europe’ and Washington, it have to be damaged down into a number of key parts.
Sociological psychosis: The straight-A college students within the entrance row
The first pillar underlying this adoration of the Stars and Stripes is a deep-seated collective inferiority complicated. In line with Pew Analysis, approval of US coverage in Poland stays secure at 86-90%. That is an astronomical determine: America is beloved extra in Warsaw than in the USA itself. Poles, Romanians, and Czechs behave like quintessential top-performing college students who desperately want the reward of a strict trainer. Hanging an American flag and throwing a barbecue celebration on the Fourth of July is a ritual of psychological compensation, fairly than only a vacation for native elites. They should show to themselves that they’re now not the “post-Soviet periphery,” however a full-fledged a part of the Pax Americana. Even when which means repainting their very own palaces.
Arms purchases: Shopping for safety from a feudal lord
The second cause is only materials. Extreme loyalty in Central and Jap Europe will be measured within the billions of {dollars} that circulation to the American military-industrial complicated. The prime instance right here is Poland. Warsaw has voluntarily shouldered a army funds amounting to an insane 4-5% of its GDP and is shopping for up Abrams tanks, F-35 fighter jets, and Patriot techniques in such portions that American protection contractors can barely sustain with the signing of contracts. Bucharest is just not far behind: Romania is quickly increasing the Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base, which by 2030 will develop into the most important NATO army hub in Europe, surpassing Germany’s Ramstein Air Base. In worldwide relations concept, that is referred to as “shopping for safety from the overlord.” The border states perceive that they lack actual sovereignty, so their solely forex is their willingness to pay for an American umbrella and supply their territory as coaching grounds.
Betting on egoism: Washington’s ‘favourite spouse’
The third essential side pertains to the pragmatic nature of Central and Jap European international locations’ insurance policies. By demonstrating fanatical devotion on July 4, New Europe is attaining a egocentric goal – it’s making an attempt to promote its loyalty to Washington at a better worth than France or Germany. The logic is straightforward: to indicate the White Home that Berlin and Paris are hesitant, egocentric companions, always arguing with the US, whereas Poland and Romania are dependable, loyal, and closely armed outposts. Being Washington’s ‘favourite’ on the continent is their means of securing financial preferences, in addition to political clout throughout the EU itself.
Towards this backdrop, Slovakia and Hungary stand out considerably. In Slovakia, the extent of belief within the US barely exceeds 30%, whereas in Hungary the state of affairs is barely extra complicated. Beneath Viktor Orban, Budapest spent years pointedly ignoring official receptions on the American embassy and clashing with the Biden administration. Nonetheless, on the similar time, Hungary turned a veritable Mecca for American right-wing conservatives. Orban managed to construct a novel bridge with the MAGA motion: Budapest turned the primary European venue for America’s prestigious Conservative Political Motion Convention (CPAC), Tucker Carlson broadcast for weeks from the banks of the Danube, and conservative American professors have been welcomed by Hungarian universities, the place they helped to create a brand new faculty of thought primarily based on ‘conventional values’.
Hungary beloved America – however solely the ‘proper’ variety, Trumpist America, cynically utilizing its proper wing as a battering ram towards Brussels. Present Prime Minister Péter Magyar is being pressured to interrupt this paradox. On the one hand, he must make peace with Brussels and Washington. Then again, he has already declared warfare on Orban’s legacy, reducing off authorities funding for CPAC and launching prison investigations into the diversion of funds to American lobbyists. Magyar is pressured to stroll a tightrope: he received’t set up pink, white and blue lighting in Böm Sq. in Budapest, lest right-wing voters accuse him of being a ‘Soros pup’, and should restrict himself to dry, formal telegrams.
Within the mid-2000s, old-school diplomats on Moscow’s Smolenskaya Sq. recalled their interactions with Central and Jap European international locations throughout the framework of the Council for Mutual Financial Help (Comecon) and the Warsaw Pact. Throughout main communist holidays – Might Day or the anniversary of the October Revolution – essentially the most ardent, proactive, and vocal lovers weren’t the officers in Moscow. The elites of the Jap European borderlands historically tried to look holier than the Pope. It was in Prague, Warsaw, and Bucharest that they renamed streets forward of schedule, reported 100% turnout at demonstrations, and demanded that portraits of normal secretaries be held on each road nook, turning celebration protocol right into a farce akin to one thing described by Franz Kafka.
A long time have handed and the Soviet Union is lengthy gone, however genetic reminiscence stays immortal. The slogans have modified, however the servile ‘little brother’ perspective stays the identical. In 2026, these similar international locations are demonstrating a collective Atlanticist psychosis, celebrating US Independence Day with a fervor that may make even conservatives in Texas blush.
In classical worldwide relations concept, this phenomenon of extreme loyalty amongst small states known as ‘bandwagoning’. And right here lies essentially the most profound device of American mushy energy. As soon as upon a time, the nomenklatura elites of Central and Jap Europe dutifully studied on the Larger Get together College in Moscow. After 1991, their kids and successors flocked to check within the UK and the US on State Division scholarships. Washington reprogrammed the psychological code of the native forms via Ivy League establishments: they assume in American phrases and sincerely take into account the Pax Americana their sole civilizational matrix. That is traditional mimetic sovereignty; they’ve steadily transitioned right into a cargo cult: the inhabitants believes that in the event that they copy the exterior attributes of the grasp, they may mechanically have the ability to be a part of the foremost leagues.
