Opinion: President Trump is making America irrelevant to Europe

Editor’s note: David A. Andelman is a CNN contributor, two-time Deadline Club Award winner, a Knight of the French Legion of Honour, and the author of .Red lines in the sand: A history of diplomacy, strategy, and potential wars” and SubStack’s blog Andelman unleashed. He previously served as foreign correspondent and bureau chief for the New York Times’ Europe and Asia region and CBS News in Paris. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.view more opinions On CNN.

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Madeleine Albright famously called America an “indispensable nation.” Is former President Donald Trump making America irrelevant?

President Trump finally breaks days of silence on Russian rebels Despite the death of Alexei Navalny, he did not mention Russia or criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first public comments. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans continue to follow Putin’s lead, and aid to Ukraine, the only country standing up to Putin’s forces, has stalled.

House Speaker Mike Johnson resisted calls to bring the Senate-passed Ukraine aid package to an early vote, instead allowing the House to adjourn for nearly two weeks.

While there may be a majority in the entire House of Representatives to support Ukraine aid, Johnson faces stiff opposition from the right over additional aid, and President Trump is urging Republicans to reject it.

The move follows President Trump’s recent threat to tell NATO countries that have lagged behind in military spending to “do whatever they want” to Russia.

result? Growing concerns about the new and frightening direction in the United States are making more European leaders determined to develop their own strategies.

Even President Joe Biden’s comments directed at a recalcitrant Congress: “They’re moving away from the Russian threat, they’re moving away from the NATO threat, they’re moving away from talks with us.” There were also comments. “It’s my duty, I’m shocked” didn’t help.

Indeed, much was discussed at the annual Munich Security Conference over parliamentary failures. Most of Europe’s leaders returned from Munich more convinced than ever that the United States was abandoning them.

It is clear to many that democracies must begin to concretely consider how to protect themselves without the U.S. nuclear and security umbrella under which they have thrived for more than half a century.

Before leaving, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen even announced that her country would hand over all of its artillery and F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. “We must Do more,” Frederiksen said as Saturday marked the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

For Europe, the first step in a new direction without America has already been taken. In Berlin, Ursula von der Leyen, the former German defense minister who deftly steered the continent for five turbulent years as president of the European Commission, announced on Monday that she will seek re-election for a second term. Top of her agenda, she says, will be the creation of Europe’s first defense secretary.

However, creating such a pan-European ministry involves more than simply reshuffling the Brussels bureaucracy. First, there is the issue of budget.

Already, American funding cuts are being felt across Europe. As reported by CNN, US aid to Ukraine continues to deplete the resources of the US Army Europe Africa Command, a $5 billion operation that includes shipments of arms and equipment to Ukraine and even NATO member Poland. There is $3 billion left to fund demand.

Without Congressional action, funding for U.S. operations in Europe could run out in May, with Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth saying the Army “needs to take money from Peter to pay Paul.” ” I predict.

Ms von der Leyen also said increasing European defense production would be a top priority in her second term, not to mention sorting out each country’s vastly different budgets.

According to calculations by Germany’s Kiel Institute, despite initial appeals for eternal solidarity with Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron’s government has provided just 640 million euros (600 million euros) in military aid. Germany’s military aid is 17.7 billion euros ($19.1 billion), compared to just 17.7 billion euros ($19.1 billion). , an economic research institute and think tank. France’s figures are disputed, but the institute says France’s contribution is “far below that of the UK” and only in the middle of the pack among European suppliers.

Still, as a bloc as a whole, Europe’s total commitments to Ukraine of around 85 billion euros (approximately 9.2 trillion yen) have already surpassed the United States’ commitments of around 66.2 billion euros (approximately $71.6 billion). US military aid has been higher than that of the EU, but has now been suspended in the face of Congressional inaction, while EU aid is only accelerating.

Then there is the nuclear issue. The United States has an estimated 100 nuclear weapons stationed at air bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey, but the launch codes for all are in the United States’ hands. France is the only country in the European Union with its own arsenal, and the fourth largest in the world. It has 290 operational warheads, only 5% of Russia’s nuclear warheads, but is the largest in Europe.

France has refused to cede control of these weapons to other countries, but that could change. President Macron, who recently visited Sweden, said that while a nuclear deterrent was in “France’s vital interests”, such a plan “has a clear European dimension, which gives us a special responsibility”. suggested that it should.

Although the UK is no longer a member of the EU, it has 225 nuclear weapons. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Britain’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, said that if Labor were elected this year, he would propose a “new UK-EU security deal”.

All these efforts and commitments represent a dramatic change in direction for a continent that has remained unflinchingly chained to America as guarantor for decades. To oversee this process, Europe needs a strong and resolute person as its first defense emperor.

One of the frontrunners is Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kalas, who has already taken the lead in an EU plan to deliver one million shells to Ukraine.

“We need a combat-effective Europe that can provide for its own defense. This is the only way to avoid war and build a deterrence of denial reliable enough to stop the cycle of Russian aggression.” ” Karas wrote in Politico Europe last year.

“Since the invasion began, we have seen Russia dump Europe’s monthly artillery production into Ukraine in a single day. Capability and sustainability will determine the outcome of this war.”

Mr. Karas has a clear motive for accepting such a post: to avoid Russian scrutiny. The Kremlin put her on its wanted list last week, making her the first government leader to be targeted. (The paper accused her and others of vandalizing or damaging monuments to Soviet soldiers.) And in Munich, ahead of November’s U.S. presidential election, Russian assets frozen abroad He proposed confiscating them all and handing them over to Ukraine.

But the most graphic evidence of how far Europe is moving away from the United States and toward self-sufficiency is a Monday op-ed column by Estonian President Aral Kalis, which makes no mention of the United States or Donald Trump. discussed regional defense.

“European countries will have a hard time confronting Russia on their own,” Kallis said. “But if we unite, we will be invincible.”

Or the German magazine Der Spiegel, which directly criticized Trump, saying, “NATO is, of course, not a (debt) collection agency.”