FLASH
Shkruar nga Danilo Taino
There are a few points worth addressing; emotions can lead to decisions we may regret tomorrow...
There are times when it is essential not to let emotions get the better of us. The reactions in many EU countries to the document recently published by the White House on the US National Security Strategy (NSS) have been understandably alarming. Indeed, it contains positions that are worrying for us Europeans. However, perhaps not all of the text has been analysed with coolness and a cool head. There are some points that are worth addressing; emotions can lead to decisions that we may regret tomorrow, such as the idea that Europe has definitively lost America.
First , every American president develops and publishes his own security strategy. What is contained in the thirty pages approved by Trump signals a fundamental change in the position of the United States in the world compared to the last eighty years: an America less active in many areas of the world, focused on its own continent and on the West; critical of Europe for losing Western points of reference; driven by zero idealism and a transactional mindset; determined to pursue a unilateral policy, as a power that defends exclusively its own interests. It is, however, a strategic policy document: important, but the political choices that Washington will make from time to time are another matter, not necessarily a copy of what is written. It is right to be concerned, but the NSS should be taken for what it really is: a document. Moreover, it is not certain that Trump will follow it to the end; some believe he didn't even read it and that it was written by the highest members of his administration, particularly Vice President JD Vance. It's better to debate policies than intentions.
Second , a new strategic position for the United States in the world will have immediate and long-term effects. Over the next three years, Trump will change everything he can; it will be impossible for anyone who comes after him to restore the previous situation. However, a president far removed from Maga's ideology could take a different, perhaps less confrontational, direction towards Europe.
Third , the United States remains a democratic country, fraught with problems, divided, but founded on strong constitutional principles and a largely liberal-minded population (in the European sense of the term). Trump certainly puts everything at risk. Europe could consider replacing the transatlantic alliance with a privileged relationship with China. A terrible idea: it would end up in the arms of a coercive power, both economically and politically. Moreover, at that point, it would have a powerful adversary to confront: the United States of America.
Fourth , we are right to be shocked that the document and Trump’s actions mistreat European allies but not China, Russia, and other illiberal regimes. This is a serious problem, but it is a mistake to read it simply as a “betrayal.” It has two basic principles. The first is that today’s Washington does not want to interfere with antidemocratic national regimes; the second is that the White House seeks a West, that is, a Europe, as well as an America united in curbing immigration, progressive culture, and awakening. The NSS document asserts that every nation in the world has the right to choose its own method of governance without Western interference. Instead, it instructs the West to fortify itself around traditional values. This is the disturbing ideological convergence between Trump and Putin; hence the White House’s decision to support the far right in Europe.
Fifth , the NSS and Trump do not see Russia as a Eurasian power that espouses an imperial and reactionary approach. They see it as the easternmost part of the Christian West. To force Moscow to “return” to the West (by rejoining the G8), Washington is even willing to impose a ceasefire in Ukraine and absolve Putin of the crimes committed with the 2022 invasion. Sacrifice Kiev and create an earthquake in the EU. This is already happening.
Sixth , in the strategy document, the White House presents harsh criticisms of the European Union. Some are extremist and aim to favor the populist right. However, the NSS also raises questions that we Europeans must address, regardless of whether a “foreign authority” imposes them on us. Immigration is the first, understood as the inability and unwillingness of many EU countries to address it. Then there is the criticism of excessive regulation in Europe: it “suffocates” the initiative of businesses, entrepreneurs and startups and sacrifices economic growth.
The new American security strategy signals a radical change of pace, a world completely different from that of the last eight decades. It is vital that Europe analyzes it with a cool head and engages with it. But even before the NSS, there is something more immediate that affects the future of our continent: the war in Ukraine. We will be able to face the new world envisioned by Trump only if we manage to impose a just peace on the most massacred and tortured European country since World War II. This, in fact, is the number one issue./ Adapted from "Pamphlet" "Corriere Della Sera"
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