Decouplement

Though there is open discussion of the risk of American decouplement from Europe, that is not a grave risk at present; what is a risk is the existing couplement of superpower conflicts with the potential sacrifice of Europe.

The specter of decouplement is that of disjoining a future war in Europe from the American nuclear deterrent, with which Europeans want to prevent an attack on Europe altogether rather than to hold the deterrent in reserve until it could deter nothing but a Soviet nuclear attack on the United States itself.

He saw an opening for such a decouplement if “deference to western episteme” could be removed from the development picture.