The Kremlin will have heard about the weakness in the transatlantic alliance and will be plotting accordingly. In one sentence, Hegseth turned a conflict, in which Moscow had been roundly diminished and humiliated for three years, into the chaotic re-ordering of continental security, in which Moscow may somehow dominate to its west.
Europe has taken American security guarantees as a given for decades and is now scrambling to imagine a world without it while appearing firmly behind Ukraine and insisting that any peace be just. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told CNN on Sunday that rushing to a bad deal would “would only serve to embolden tyrants worldwide.” She said NATO membership was a “the strongest and cheapest security guarantee” and that “Ukraine aid is not charity, it’s an investment in our security.”
> Europe has taken American security guarantees as a given for decades
ReplyDeleteYup. They built their little social democracies using money they should've put into their militaries but instead relied on the US to cover it for them. And to show gratitude for that, they treated the US with open contempt. And now the US is tired of that and expects Europe to get over its post-WW2 PTSD and start defending itself.