Max Boot
For Europe, this is a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency moment. The United States, which has guaranteed European security against Russian attack for 80 years, appears to have switched sides under President Donald Trump.
Nothing better symbolizes this disturbing volte-face than the United Nations vote last week on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The United States joined 17 members, including rogue regimes such as those in North Korea, Sudan and Belarus, in voting against a resolution condemning the unprovoked Russian attack. Trump justifies his new policy by claiming that he must show neutrality to negotiate an end to the war. Yet he doesn’t hesitate to harshly condemn Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He has called Zelensky a dictator but not Vladimir Putin.
Even before the shocking collapse of the Trump-Zelensky summit on Friday and Trump’s reprehensible decision on Monday to pause all U.S. aid to Ukraine, Germany’s newly elected chancellor, Friedrich Merz, was already speaking about the need to “strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the U.S.” Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former NATO secretary general, agreed, writing in the Economist, “Europe must come to terms with the fact that we are not only existentially vulnerable, but also seemingly alone.”
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