US Vice President JD Vance’s diatribe against Europe that shocked officials at the Munich Security Conference in February has now become Washington’s official policy.
Europe’s effectively been cut loose as an ally in the new US National Security Strategy that’s heavy on President Donald Trump’s MAGA values and far warmer toward Russia. The days of the US “propping up the entire world order like Atlas” are over, it asserts. Instead, there’ll be “realignment through peace.”
That means disengaging from postwar security guarantees for Europe as Russia pursues its invasion against Ukraine.
Elements of the strategy could be traced in Trump’s _expression_ of disappointment yesterday in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s willingness to agree to US terms for a peace deal with Russia.
It’s a grim backdrop to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s talks with Zelenskiy in London today along with the French and German leaders.
To Ben Hodges, a former top US military commander, the strategy is about spheres of influence, effectively ceding Europe to Russia — and “a massive middle finger” to European allies.
Little wonder the Kremlin welcomes the US shift.
When Elon Musk posted on X that the European Union “should be abolished” after it fined his social media platform €120 million ($140 million) for breaching transparency rules on Friday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev replied “exactly.” Russia blocked X after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Top US officials lined up to condemn the EU. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the fine an attack on “the American people by foreign governments.”
US-Europe tensions are also likely to be evident during the Nobel Peace Prize celebrations in Oslo this week.
The recipient, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, is bringing Javier Milei of Argentina among a clutch of Latin American leaders and US Republicans with her. The hosts worry it will turn into a MAGA circus.
The US strategy trumpets America’s strengths, among them a “broad network of alliances.”
Some of those alliances with Europe are now hanging by a thread. — Alan Crawford