It was another one of those “weeks when decades happen” (and it is not even over).
In the flurry of news headlines and live blogs, it’s easy to lose sight of exactly what is at stake.
To review: the United States may or may not still be Europe’s ally, and may or may not be willing to continue to support Ukraine.
What we do know is that Washington is negotiating Ukraine’s future with Russia without either Kyiv or Europe present and that the president of the US has adopted Vladimir Putin’s talking points on the conflict and questioned Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.
For those of us who have been following Europe’s reaction to the conflict from the beginning – Monday marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion – it’s tempting to conclude the that the end is nigh.
That’s especially true when you hear European officials refer to the growing transatlantic rift as a ‘wake-up call’, as if the alarm bells hadn’t been ringing non-stop for the past three years.
Europe had three years to rebuild its armies and ramp up weapons production to help Ukraine defend itself and it has fallen woefully short. Germany’s much-ballyhooed Zeitenwende, which the country’s soon-to-be-former chancellor can’t stop bragging about, must sound like a cruel joke to the Ukrainian troops in the trenches.
The reality is that the €100 billion in additional military spending Berlin earmarked is only a fraction of what will be needed to defend Europe against Russia.
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