The world, especially Europe, has been stunned by recent developments, particularly the intense debate within the White House between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump and US Vice-President J.D. Vance. But what shocked the global community the most has been the sudden shift in the war narrative.
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Trump has framed Ukraine as the cause of the conflict and suggested that Nato, the transatlantic military alliance, was to blame for provoking Russia. This has completely disrupted the Western consensus on supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Not only did the United States oppose the recent UN resolution condemning Russia’s aggression, Trump has also demanded that Ukraine repay the US for its military aid. If Ukraine couldn’t come up with the money, it was suggested that it paid with its minerals and rare earths. What a reversal, and in such a short time.
The European Union has long considered itself a great power, even aspiring to be a modern superpower. But, faced with the reality of its geopolitical limitations and lack of strategic and security autonomy, it has come to the harsh realisation that it is more of a chess piece than a chess player. It is a bitter pill for Europe to swallow.
Europe has been shocked by the broader shift in great power geopolitics, particularly America’s changing priorities under Trump, whose “America first” policy does not, in many ways, align with European interests. Europe is in a state of panic, unsure of where it stands in this new geopolitical reality.
After World War II, the global order was largely shaped by great power geopolitics, involving in particular the US, the Soviet Union and Britain. France was a much-weakened power while China, though a victor in the anti-Japanese war, was in the midst of a civil war. Later, as British influence waned, America and the Soviet Union were left as the main shapers of world politics.