Europas Moment der Wahrheit: Die transatlantische Allianz ist unter großer Bedrohung – aber noch nicht zum Scheitern verurteilt
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/volodymyr-zelensky-trump-europes-moment-truth
Europas Moment der Wahrheit: Die transatlantische Allianz ist unter großer Bedrohung – aber noch nicht zum Scheitern verurteilt
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/volodymyr-zelensky-trump-europes-moment-truth
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[SS from essay by Wolfgang Ischinger, President of the Munich Security Conference Foundation Council and former German Ambassador to the United States.]
The disastrous meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House on February 28 has led to a stark moment of truth for the Western alliance. In the fallout with Zelensky and the end of U.S. support for the war effort, the Trump administration has not only shaken Ukraine. It has also called into question some of the bedrock assumptions that have undergirded the transatlantic relationship since World War II.
In European capitals, panic has set in. Some policymakers and analysts are speaking of the end of NATO, or the end of the West. They are terrified about U.S. intentions: Does Washington intend to actively undermine the long-term survival of Ukraine as a sovereign and free country? Is Trump trying to execute a “reverse Kissinger,” by charming Russian President Vladimir Putin into abandoning his marriage to Chinese leader Xi Jinping and making an unholy alliance with the United States? A huge chasm has opened in transatlantic trust—one that is bad for Washington’s global power projection and for its image as a benign hegemon, and potentially catastrophic for transatlantic cohesion and the vitality of NATO.
EU is starting to feel like the Arab league, lots of talk.
It is clearly doomed from an european pov. The answer is increased defense spending (domestic industries) and nukes (idk if an umbrella works, if France elects e.g. LePen). How do we do that idk.
Other countries have a similar line of thought, bc the US seems to become very erratic and volatile.
I’m really puzzled at this sense of European victimhood.
* Despite American warnings delivered politely by Obama, then medi-rudely by Trump in 2017, the European members of NATO largely (Poland excepted) ignored any requests to increase defense spending.
* **Germany** and other European members essentially funded the build up of the Russian military machine through their fossil fuel purchases – again over American protests, delivered diplomatically and rudely.
* Ukraine is invaded and the US provides hundreds of billions $ in aid/weapons but the European allies again take their time ramping up aid.
* And then to top it off, the Guardian has reported this week that EU is *still* spending more on Russian gas than they are on Ukraine aid.
Even broken clocks are right twice a day. The Transatlantic alliance is over but to point the finger at the Americans as the cause when every action that was protested by America but committed by Europe led to this point is the pinnacle of hypocrisy. Like art-worthy.