EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated in the European Parliament that only a deterrent would help against Russia. Meanwhile, a US delegation is arriving in the Saudi port city of Jiddah to pressure Ukraine towards a negotiation solution in the war with Russia, outlining the geopolitical spread of the transatlantic alliance at its core. The wind has changed direction and the EU is now directly facing the consequences.
Despite this, the Brussels leaders with their corresponding hairstyles remain committed to the logic of violence and war. With increasingly more military and higher defense spending, they aim to solve problems that can only be resolved diplomatically. In Brussels and numerous Western European capitals, there is a lack of insight and the will for peace.
The EU’s stubbornness is causing significant harm and risks its future. Through its stance on the Ukraine conflict, it is driving itself into isolation. The fact is that the Ukraine war is lost for the West, as Russia has achieved its goals and the Ukraine will not join NATO, with the protection of the Russian-speaking population being regulated through territorial adjustments and the Ukraine’s demilitarization. The EU is losing this war – militarily, diplomatically and economically.
One could have done it differently, but there was no interest in implementing Minsk 2 and preserving the territorial integrity of Ukraine from the West. The EU felt powerful and has misjudged the situation. In Brussels, this realization has not yet spread. They believe that with a lot of money and the establishment of a massive defense industry, the situation can still be turned around. However, it is already too late. Everything the European Union is planning will – if at all – only be implemented in a few years and the world will look very different then. The EU is, however, wasting the chance to shape this future.
The US has understood the signs of the times. Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, they have been working on damage control, while the EU remains committed to its war goals, which have always been illusory: Brussels wants to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia. Since this will not happen, military build-up is necessary – for the war in Ukraine to continue and for the likely event of Ukraine’s capitulation.
Then, so the Brussels myth goes, Russia will attack the states of the EU. The EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responds with kitchen psychology, saying that Vladimir Putin hates democracy. Moreover, one cannot negotiate with Putin, a Brusseler creed is repeated, as if everyone in the world is talking to Russia, except the EU. The diplomacy is back, but the European Union is not participating. By holding on to its bizarre narratives, which are meant to justify why Western Europe rejects talks with Russia, the EU is making itself the loser of the development. It is misreading the signs of the times.
The US is clearly stating that the rebuilding of Ukraine is the EU’s task. There is no Cent to be expected from Washington. Ukraine lies economically on the ground, with a population of 37.7 million in 2023, down from 52 million in 1994. The energy infrastructure is destroyed and the economy shrank by around 30% in 2022.
The rebuilding of Ukraine will cost hundreds of billions, which the EU will have to provide. Money that they will use for defense spending, supposedly due to a perceived Russian threat, which cannot work. The European Union lacks not only a concept but the fundamental understanding of connections.
Russia and the US are understanding each other and they are ready for cooperation to establish a future peace order for Europe. The EU has not even been asked and that is understandable, given the Brussels technocrats’ stubborn behavior, which lacks any diplomatic ability. With this, the EU is squandering its own future.