That's not quite how I remembered it.
The problem was always geography - America saw the Pacific as its backyard and Europe was on the wrong side. For administration after administration, it was all about Asia, not Europe. First, it was Vietnam and Cambodia in which of course the Europeans refuse to participate and later Thailand and the India/Pakistan conflicts which, as we all know, put American, Russian and Chinese troops not far apart in North India and the Khyber Pass. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan after 1973 combined with American intervention in Pakistan to support General Zia and you had the superpowers eyeballing each other along the Khyber Pass just as Sino-Indian tensions rose in Bhutan.
Europe was a bit player and when the new President unilaterally began to withdraw troops from West Germany to send to Pakistan, the political impact on the NATO Alliance was devastating.
You also had growing European integration starting with the Coal & Steel Union and this gathered pace with Britain and France growing closer after Suez and the rift with Washington. The European Economic Community was the natural precursor to EuroFed but plenty of us in Europe thought the Americans liked dealing with Europe in piecemeal rather than one which spoke with one voice. The filial ties with the UK had been weakened by Suez, Vietnam and Washington's ham-fisted attempt at neutrality in Ulster. The problem was too many prominent Senators and Congressmen were financed by those who backed the IRA and when one became President and actively spoke of supporting a United Ireland - well, that was the parting of the ways.
So NATO became the WEU and APTO (featuring Canada, Australia and New Zealand). The only thing the WEU had in its favour was Moscow getting bogged down in Afghanistan, Indo-China, North Korea and Africa and as we all know the combination of all those engagements proved too much and the whole Communist House of Cards came down following the Korean Unification War and the subsequent Indo-Pakistani War. It was only thanks to providence we all avoided Armageddon during the latter conflict but Moscow's decision not to actively intervene to support India saved us all - thank you, Mikhail Gorbachev !!
So we have a multi-polar world once again - America dominates the Western Hemisphere, EuroFed is building its new defensive glacis to the south (occupying the remains of post-Gaddafi Libya and overthrowing the corrupt Eritrean regime) and, in alliance with Turkey, keeping an eye on the Middle East which simmers as always. Then we have China in alliance with Korea and Japan dominating Eastern Asia. Some have claimed this is the world of which Orwell spoke but there is no "Ingsoc" - rather, capitalism is triumphant worldwide.
The new concern is Russia - the rapprochement with EuroFed has seen WEU troops alongside Russian forces on the Kazakhstan border with Chinese troops not far away. With vast quantities of natural gas in Kazakhstan, it's easy to see why this is the new flashpoint.