WHY is it that President Trump and some of his closest colleagues have taken a non-traditional approach to Europe, with Vice-President Vance going the furthest and openly telling Europe it must look after its own security? The story of European manipulation of the US to weaken and isolate Russia is a long and complicated historical story.

Should Donald Trump finally free the US from the deadly anti-Russian conspiracy of Europe, he will go down in history as one of the world’s most successful practitioners of international statecraft. Europe has been a traditional enemy of Russia. President Stalin knew this and tried to appease Germany, not to attack the USSR by signing the 1939 Non-Aggression Pact with Hitler.

But Russia could not have befriended Germany because Germany had no love for Russia, thus Germany invaded the USSR. After the war, it was back to anti-Russian games by Europe. This time European leaders led by Winston Churchill roped in the United States of America. The hatred for Russia grew stronger after 1945 because Russia did what it always wanted to do – take its place as a great European nation.

And it did just that by becoming a huge empire with nuclear weapons. What Churchill set about to do was contain Russia by assigning that task to the US. The idea of creating NATO was an original European idea. Europe sat by idly and watched the US take the fight to the USSR. John F. Kennedy was the forerunner of Trump.

Kennedy suspected that Europe was pushing the US into a war with the USSR and it could come anytime. It almost came with the Cuban missile crisis, but Kennedy’s brother, Bobby, averted the war through a realpolitik arrangement with the USSR. For this, Kennedy paid with his life. Trump, being a victim, the deep state believes the deep state killed Kennedy and has released the files on the Kennedy assassination.

From the Cuban missile crisis until 1989, Europe hoped for confrontation with the USSR with the expectation it will be an American war. Europe won its long historical victory over Russia with the collapse of the USSR in 1989. Russia then became a client state of Europe through Europe’s manipulation of Boris Yeltsin. Europe reneged on all its promises to Yeltsin and took over the Russian economy and enlarged NATO.

The rise of Vladimir Putin was a nightmare for Europe. Putin was the KGB point man in Germany and knew what the Germans were up to. Putin became the KGB boss and had all the information on what Europe did to Yeltsin. Putin became a sworn enemy of Gorbachev because he felt Gorbachev was naïve and allowed the USSR to fall.  So hateful was Putin of Gorbachev, he didn’t attend his funeral.

Putin sees his role as inserting Russia back in the world as a great power. Europe will not allow this. Once more, Europe is presented with an opportunity to do away with Russia – the Ukrainian war. Europe does not want to talk to Putin. Europe does not want a ceasefire. Europe does not want an end to the conflict. It wants a war where the US will take on Russia. Macron came close to starting a war with Russia when he suggested last that France could send troops to Ukraine

It was Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin that travelled to the Ukraine and undermined a cease fire, that Zelensky was about to sign in 2023. Trump knows Ukraine is a European game that will end in a war with Europe dragging the US in. Trump knows that Europe has special forces troops on the ground in Ukraine. Putin is no fool he knows that too.

Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, Kamla Harris, Nancy Pelosi and the established power base in the Democratic Party wanted Biden to go full out in a confrontation with Putin because the Europeans asked them to do it. They in turn have asked Biden to do it and he was doing it and was about to intensify the conflict when he lost power through the loss of his mental faculties.

Vice-President Vance as a senator opposed any aid for Ukraine because he knew that Ukraine is a European game. This explains his dressing down of European leaders in a severe tongue lashing last week. Trump has excluded the Europeans in the US-Russia talks because he feels they are warmongers who can bring nothing to the table.

The fact is, Europe cannot offer any kind of ideas about a Ukraine resolution because Zelensky is just the mask. The war in Ukraine is Europe versus Russia. Trump figures that Europe at the table with Zelensky is a recipe for chaos. This explains why he would only talk to Russia.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.