The Think Tank Bubble

This is an interesting case of the think tank bubble in which people are talking about how “Europe” has hardened its attitude against China whereas they actually mean “European elites”. And this illustrates how out of touch the think tanks are from the rest of the world.

If you look at the polls in Europe, public sentiment toward China has improved markedly over the last few years. In Germany for example, China is now regarded more favorably than the United States.

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/07/15/people-in-many-countries-now-view-china-more-positively-than-the-u-s/

But this shows a big elite/gap which you see in Germany. Merz is going very anti-China, but he is at 10% approval, and the AfD which stands a good chance of winning in Saxony-Anhalt and Meckenburg is very pro-China and pro-Russia.

The impression I get with the people in the think tanks is that they are growing increasing out of touch with reality, and are unable to make effective policy because they have an agenda that just ignores the actual world.