Source: The i Paper
When this era’s history books are written, no one will be able to argue that Britain and its allies in Europe were not warned. It has been clear for two decades that Russia under Vladimir Putin is intent on expanding borders, subverting democracy on our continent and beyond to achieve its aims.
The alarm was raised repeatedly by nations that escaped Moscow’s repression. Yet even the invasions of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 failed to jolt the West from complacency as our political and corporate leaders kowtowed to the despot in the Kremlin, sucked on the teat of his oil and gas, brushed aside his atrocities and laundered cash stolen by his pals.
Last week saw another sorry chapter in this sordid saga. A public inquiry confirmed an obvious fact: Putin targeted a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury with a military-grade nerve agent, killing a British woman in an attack that could have led to more deaths. It was horribly reminiscent of the killing almost two decades ago in London of another ex-spy, Alexander Litvinenko.
Meanwhile, Putin pushed back on another sellout peace plan from the White House while his troops grind forward in the battlefields of Ukraine – then made another of his wearily familiar threats about potential war with Europe.
I am writing this in Kyiv, where Putin’s assault on freedom – aided by his autocratic allies – could not be clearer. Yet Russia is engaged also in a wider covert war on our continent: hiring criminals for sabotage, crippling firms with cyber attacks, cutting undersea cables, sending drones to test defences, spreading disinformation and fuelling division to corrupt democracies. There are open calls in his state media for the assassination of European leaders.
It is now beyond doubt, however, that this ghastly regime is being assisted by the White House in its efforts to destroy Ukraine – and that the United States has declared war on Europe under its appalling President.
A new US National Security Strategy sets this out in stark terms. It is a depressing document, which codifies the extremism, racism and venality of Donald Trump’s approach to Europe while claiming his culture wars as a strand of Washington’s security policy.
It is the sequel to his Vice President’s disgraceful February speech at the Munich Security Conference, which downplayed Russia’s threat while lashing out at the supposed suppression of free speech and exclusion of far-right forces.
It shows this is the guiding principle of US foreign policy – which means Europe has adversaries on both flanks seeking to corrode our societies and inflame malignant nationalism.
This US strategy is hypocritical and offensive – from support for Russia’s stance of opposing Nato enlargement and blaming “undemocratic” European governments for sustaining war in Ukraine, through to its disturbing echo of gross far-right claims on demographics and migration.
“It is more than plausible that, within a few decades at the latest, certain Nato members will become majority non-European,” states this risible document, alleging our “economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure”
It talks about wanting “Europe to remain European” and “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations”, implying support for hard-right populist forces such as the AfD in Germany and Reform UK in Britain. And while Russia is no longer designated a direct threat, the only entity in the world seen as threatening free speech is the European Union.
No surprise that this paper embracing hard-right nationalists and promoting “strategic stability” with Russia was welcomed by the Kremlin as “largely consistent” with its vision. It confirms that Trump, like Putin, is ideologically opposed to our continent, culture and values.
So will Europe’s leaders – so slow in the past to react to Russian aggression – realise the transatlantic alliance is history? Will British politicians stop the bullshit about a special relationship with Washington? Will power brokers at this challenging time understand that flattery, gifts and glittering state visits do not work? Or will they carry on prostrating themselves before a grotesque US President who despises our way of life and seeks to undermine democracies?
European nations should try to help America “correct its current trajectory” – just as this dismal document declares its intention for us – amid that country’s sinister slide into corruption, immorality and democratic subversion. But more fundamentally, our leaders must stop stroking Trump’s absurdly inflated ego and seize the initiative to defend our continent.
Europe – in alliance with soulmates such as Australia and Canada – has to show that it is prepared to fight for its future, take tough decisions and overcome national and tribal divisions in order to navigate these traumatic times.
This includes drastically ramping up spending on the military – immediately, not over the next decade like Britain. And not just countries including Denmark, Estonia and Poland, but laggards such as Ireland and Spain.
It involves confronting issues as diverse as the pitiful inadequacies of social media regulation and systemic political failures that turbocharge the appeal of populist fellow travellers of this US President, who loathes diversity and modernity.
Above all, the bickering needs to stop so Europe can send frozen Russian financial assets to aid Ukraine’s struggle for survival, since this lies at the heart of our hesitant continent’s fight to defend democracy.
Yesterday I met Serhiy, a pensioner sitting on a bench in Kyiv. He told me how he grew up in the Soviet Union, became an engineer at the Institute of Cybernetics and now suffers the horrors of Russia’s intensifying air raids. Like most Ukrainians, he has no illusions about Putin or prospects for a lasting peace deal.
“We have to brace ourselves and push through,” he said. “We cannot rely on the US while Trump is in power. But the Europeans must understand what they’re dealing with because Russia is a big threat for them that Europe must start taking seriously. Do they want Ukraine to collapse, then be left alone against the enemy who grew even stronger? Europe must wake up, seriously wake up.” We should heed his wise words.
