From ”Times of India,, Journalist, Mrutyuanjai Mishra-Trump has derailed the quixotic project of Europe to weaken Russia

The main source: Times of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/mind-the-gap/trump-has-derailed-the-quixotic-project-of-europe-to-weaken-russia/

Europe is shocked and stunned at the turn of recent events. First it was J.D. Vance who lectured the European leaders and told them to respect free speech and allow all voters to have influence, and then Trump came out lambasting the Ukranian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and called him a dictator. Trump admonished him for not acting fast as the battleground situation is getting worse in Ukraine.

So, what is the Trump administration indicating to Europe. It is suggesting that the time has arrived for a multipolar world. The United States has finally decided to drop the idea of confronting and battling Russia in order to weaken it. Two decades of American policy of unequivocally supporting the Ukrainian bid to enter NATO is now done and dusted, and the territorial gains of Russia on the battlefield remains a part of the compromised deal.

America wants to recognize Russia as a major power in the world, and probably similar deals will be made with China in the future. India is lucky to have Kash Patel, a person of Indian origin, as the new FBI chief in the United States. Conditions for a better Indo-American relationship has never been more optimistic, promising and optimal. India will not be seen at par with Russia and China as a major super power, but will be viewed as a US-friendly country.

The American administration wants to reduce the cost of defense and collectively with Russia and China now wants to reduce the number of lethal atomic weapons in order to reduce the economic burden of maintaining those dangerous weapons.

There is now a fundamental disagreement with European powers on how to handle Ukraine. America wants to normalize the relationship with Russia and now has a concrete plan for peace. For three years Europe had just one plan and it was to weaken Russia and in collaboration with the Biden administration peddle as much money and ammunition to Ukraine as possible in order to weaken the Russians on the battlefield. Obviously, the Russians are not willing to trust the Europeans.

Now the European leaders are panicking as the guarantee of American cover of defense seems to evaporate. A strange and unrealistic argument that Russia is soon going attack a NATO country is galvanizing several states to increase their defense budgets. But these fears are totally unfounded. Russia has never ever expressed any desire to attack any of the Baltic States and seems just bent on guaranteeing its interest in the Black Sea and keeping a distance to the NATO troops and atomic weapons in Ukraine and its vicinity.

Europe could easily solve this crisis which has erupted after the change in the stance of the American government. It has to conceive of a new strategic defense architecture that guarantees the security interests of Russia as well.

This could be a win-win situation for Europe as the chances of war will be nullified. But will the European leaders come out of their hysterical and emotional response and adhere to the school of realism? Probably not until they are completely left out of the peace deal with Ukraine. And perhaps a few countries then will realize the futility of constant confrontation with Russia. The fallacious project of demonizing Russia will only result in soaring costs of military budgets in Europe without improving European security concerns. The common man will have to suffer as the financial resources that guaranteed the welfare state will witness budget reductions.

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