Donald Trump has spent only one month in his second term as an US President. However, he has disrupted the international order, weakened the Western alliance and created a sense of insecurity and uncertainty among his members, even shocked some of his supporters.
There has been a change in the US foreign policy under Trump. He is now close to Moscow than the traditional colleagues of Washington. He has adopted the story of Kremlin on Ukraine and sidelined American colleagues.
Europeans, who had felt safe under the American military umbrella since World War II, are now nervous. They are no longer sure that under Trump, the US will honor Article 5 of NATO, which is triggered when the member comes at the time of the state attack. This means that an attack on a member of a NATO is an attack on all.
Even in Europe, there is a fear that Donald Trump may sign a deal with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which will return American forces from Baltic states and will effectively kill the NATO alliance.
This will be similar to the non-aggression treaty signed by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany on August 13, 1939, which will send shockwaves to other European countries and inspire Hitler and Stalin to anxue neighboring countries. It is another matter that Hitler attacked the Soviet Union two years later, in which the treaty came to an end.
Can Europe survive without American military support?
NATO’s European members may call themselves key powers, but they cannot match the Russia’s army that may be without American support. Even after losing more than one million people in the Ukraine conflict, Moscow remains a strong military power, mainly due to its nuclear arsenal.
Those who had earlier said that Trump will only talk and do not take action on his dangers or promises, they have become silent. He has signed more than 70 executive orders since he started his second term last month and has also started implementing his international agenda rapidly.
Tram was a promise promise to end the Russia-Ukraine war, but hardly anyone expected him to take Russia’s side and even convict Ukraine for the struggle, which he did.
Last Tuesday, he sent his state secretary, Marco Rubio to discuss peace in Saudi Arabia to meet his Russian counterpart. But he ignored Ukraine. Putin, who was shocked by the US and its colleagues since the Ukraine’s invasion, was happy.
Trump- Zelansky Ro
A disappointed Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized Trump, saying that the US President was living in a Russian-made “disintegration place”. It is Trump, who is not known to ignore any comment against him. He called the Ukrainian President a dictator to suspend elections.
Trump also described Zelansky as a “modest successful comedian”, who “spoke from the United States to spend $ 350 billion, to go to a war that could not be won, which could not be won, which never started starting Had to do, but a war that he, without any war, a war, we and ‘trump’, will never be organized. ”
By the time Trump started his second term, Ukraine and his leader fulfilled the US support. President Biden visited Ukraine several times since the Russian invasion in February 2022 and offered all possible military and financial assistance to Zelancesi.
Russia was severely punished. The US joined hands with its European colleagues to separate Moscow, faced difficult economic sanctions and seized its property. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Even Putin and his close associates were planned to be put in the Nurnberg-style trial.
Ukraine’s distant dream
Till a year ago, Ukraine leader was talking about freeing all his fields, including Crimea, which Russia had annexed in 2014 with the help of Western military equipment. Ukraine also managed to capture the Russian region of Kursk, which thought that the bargaining chip would be used during interaction with Moscow.
But all that now looks like a distant dream. With Trump at the White House, it seems that all concessions will be given by Ukraine to end the three -year -old struggle. Zelenskyy is desperate to give some security guarantee against Russia. But America has not made any promise yet.
Under Trump, the US now called Russia a G -7 statement being an aggressive, which is being designed to mark the third anniversary of the Ukraine War. The US team removed the phrase from the first draft, which was prepared by Canada, who was the current holder of the group.
Why the story shift?
Trump has always been a fan of strong people like Putin. Even during his first term, he developed a synergy with him. He also dislikes Zelansky, which he sees more as a road to end the Ukraine conflict.
As a former businessman, Trump see things from the point of view of profitable deals. The sanctions have killed Russia, but American companies have also resulted in the trade deficit in billions of dollars. He wants to restore those businesses.
Ukraine is a major manufacturer of important minerals and Trump wants him for the US. He asked Kiev to participate with half of those minerals as part of a deal. Zelansky refused to agree to the deal until it included the security guarantee against Russia.
Trump has also blamed European leaders for not enough to end the Ukraine War. He has complained for a long time that Europe has been away from America for a very long time and will have to pay for his safety. Europeans have increased their defense budget, but is not enough to maintain without American support.
European plan
In front of changing American policy under Trump, European leaders are working on a plan to protect a Russian attack. This includes a proposal to deploy thousands of peacekeeping soldiers in Ukraine. The proposal has the support of Britain and France and is in response to the request of 100,000 soldiers from Zelansky.
But idea does not have widespread support in Europe. Germany, another great power in the continent has already called it ahead of time. The proposal has been rejected by Russia, with around 600,000 soldiers in Ukraine. But even Britain and France cannot send soldiers from the United States without any kind of backup. And this is not possible under the Trump administration.
Trump’s Ukraine messenger, General Keith Kelog, who visited Kiev and met Zelancesi on Thursday, stated that all options should be opened to deal with the result of peace talks. But he knows that any decision to provide any American military cover will be made by Trump which looks less willing to do so for this time.
(Naresh Kaushik is a former editor of Associated Press and BBC News located in London.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
