The American century in Europe is over.
Two geopolitical Thunders on Wednesday will change the transatlantic relationship.
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The call from Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin brought the Russian leader from the cold into the plans of the Ukrainian war and agreed to exchange presidential visits.
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Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth went to Brussels and told European allies that “have regular security on the African continent.”
The watershed highlights Trump’s “America First” ideology and his tendency to see each issue or alliance as a dollar and cent value proposition. This also underscores his freedom from establishing an advisor, which is in the myth of Western foreign policy, which he believes thwarted his first term.
Although Hegseth suggested Nato, there was a fundamental change.
The U.S. intervention won two world wars that began in Europe and later guaranteed continental freedom in the face of the Soviet threat. But Trump said during the campaign that he may not defend members of the coalition who underinvestment in defense. Therefore, in 1940, Winston Churchill eloquently made a perennial view that “the new world, with all the power and power” would “go toward the liberation of the rescue and liberate the old world.”
Trump, who returned from the beginning of the Republic, made reasons for many presidents’ entwined attitudes towards foreign countries, said Wednesday: “We have a little thing in this piece.”
Heggs’ amazing bluntness
It has long been clear that the second Trump administration will put new demands on American European partners, which will lead to painful choices for governments that choose social spending over defense. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told the European Parliament last month that Europeans must provide more cash for the military. “If you don’t, get a Russian language course or go to New Zealand,” he said.
But Heggs was still shocked. He formally formalized Trump’s demand for members of the coalition to spend 5% on defense, and said the United States would prioritize its growing conflict with China and its security on its borders with Europe. “The United States will no longer tolerate imbalances, which will encourage dependence.” The Pentagon head wore a pocket square of stars and stripes.
The tough new approach is not like Trump’s fantasy of canceling the Palestinians in Gaza to build the “Middle East Riviera”. This is a reasonable response to changing political reality. With the greatest generation of World War II and fostering the president, they understand that the danger of European power vacuum has disappeared. At least in the mid-1950s, any American who remembered the Soviet Union’s adult memory of the Cold War. The strongest competitor in the United States is in Asia rather than Europe. Therefore, Trump wants to ask why the African continent still has not occupied its own self-defense after the Nazis defeated 80 years ago.
Successful U.S. presidents and European leaders have failed to rethink NATO in the 21st century. Looking back, the Transatlantic Alliance has exposed itself to the most traded and nationalistic American president since the 19th century.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposed in a recent interview with Sirius XM’s “Megyn Kelly Show” that the United States should not be the “front end” of European security, but the “back station”. He rebuked the European powers. “When you ask those guys why you can’t spend more money on national security, their argument is because it requires us to cut down on welfare programs, unemployment benefits, being able to retire at 59 and all of these other aspects, Rubio said . “This is the choice they made. But are we subsidizing? ”
Trump’s treatment of allies such as Canada and Mexico, and his appeal to Denmark for Greenland, shows that he is disdainful of the multilateral foreign policy of the United States. He always praises Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s wisdom and strength. It is obvious that he thinks they are another strong and powerful leader in America’s only worthwhile interlocutor.
“Trump’s agenda has nothing to do with European security: he doesn’t think the United States should pay for European security,” said Nicholas Dungan, founder and CEO of the Hague strategic consulting firm Cogitopraxis. “This is not a new era of transatlantic relations, it is A new era of vigorous global relations has replaced the intentional institutional structure of the liberal international order.”
Information the United States in Ukraine about Europe doesn’t want to hear
The first test of this new American-European reality will span Ukraine.
Trump said negotiations to end the Ukrainian war will “begin immediately” in a phone call with Putin, who has been frozen by the West since his illegal invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not included in a shocking sign of the Kiev government. Zelensky is the center of everything the Biden administration does in the war. Trump did call Zelensky late Wednesday, but the U.S. president has sparked concerns that he would make a resolution in favor of Russia. When a reporter asked whether Ukraine would be an equal partner in peace negotiations, Trump replied: “This is an interesting question,” he seemed to think carefully, and then replied: “I said that’s not a good war Putin’s line is, Conflict is the fault of a country that has been brutally invaded by its authoritarian neighbors.
Heggs is equally blunt. He proposed our starting point for the negotiations: Ukraine cannot return to its pre-2014 borders before invading Crimea, it cannot join NATO, and the U.S. military will no longer play any security force to guarantee any final peace. Any peacekeeping force must be composed of European and non-European troops and will not be covered by NATO’s mutual defense clauses – meaning that the United States will not rescue if there is a conflict with Moscow’s forces.
Former President Joe Biden is also upset about Ukraine’s path to NATO members, fearing a conflict with nuclear-armed Russia that could turn into World War III. Trump insists that European peacekeepers will not wear NATO uniforms will be seen by many observers as an equally cautious move to avoid dragging the United States into a conflict with Russia.
But Wednesday was also Putin’s best day since the invasion, as it swept through many Ukrainian aspirations. Heggs thinks he is just distributing realism. He has a little bit. In the United States or Europe, no one thinks the clock can go back to 2014. Despite the billions of dollars in Western aid, Ukraine still cannot win its land on the battlefield.
Still, by taking these issues off the table, Trump is the highest deal maker, who stripped the Ukrainians of bargaining chips that could have been used to win concessions from his old friend Putin. For now, Trump does not seem to object to Russia’s retention of its unprovoked invasion. It’s not surprising – because like Russia, the United States now has a president who believes that great power has the right to gain expansionism in its area of regional influence. However, rewarding Russia with favorable reconciliation would set a disastrous precedent.
A frightening historical metaphor
Trump said the U.S.-Russia calls for and a future summit with Putin in Saudi Arabia, which may suggest that he cut not only Zelensky from the deal, but also Europe.
In a statement from France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, the European Union, the European Commission, and the United Kingdom and Ukraine, warned: “Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations.” They warned Trump that it seems Trump would be A peace agreement is reached at all costs, “Justic and lasting peace in Ukraine are necessary conditions for achieving a strong transatlantic security.”
Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt is concerned about the call for comfort between Trump and Putin. “It’s disturbing that we have two big guys, two big selves…believe they can manipulate all the problems themselves,” he told Richard Quest on CNN International. Bilt evokes possible historical analogies – UK The comfort of Adolf Hitler allowed the Nazis to annex Sultan Land. “To the ears of Europe, it sounds like Munich. It sounds like two big leaders wanting to keep peace in our time, a distant country, they know nothing about it. They are preparing to have that particular country with that particular country The person in charge of the company reached an agreement. Many Europeans knew how that particular film ended. “
Trump’s detailed strategy remains opaque. The destruction of many of Zelensky’s wishes means that Kiev’s deal against any Putin-Trump cannot be taken for granted. After his steady rise on the battlefield, Russian leaders are desperate to settle down like Trump, who has long been eager to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
But even during the Biden administration, the framework for possible settlement has been a topic of private conversations between Washington and the European capital. As Hegseth made it clear, it is unrealistic for Ukraine to regain all the lost land. What could have emerged is the solution of the division of Germany after World War II, where Russian-occupied territory remained under control with the rest of Ukraine (at the other end of the hard border) – still a democratic country . Perhaps the West is allowed to join the EU like Old West Germany. But this time, the US military will not make freedom and security.
“Now, the U.S. position in Ukraine should be surprised by no one in Europe: This is exactly what European insiders say to me on the record, on the channel behind, behind the scenes, behind the scenes for two years: Western Ukraine and Eastern Ukraine, e.g. West Germany, such as West Germany and East Germany, but in this case – EU Yes, NATO, no,” Deng Gan said.
Such a solution will cause cruel historical irony. Putin was desperate among a KGB official in Dresden, as the Soviet Union was dissolved, and he might create a new East Germany in 21st century Europe with the help of the United States.
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