IF you do not support the foreign policy behaviour of the US president, recent developments in Europe have thrown up facts that have become the new reality in US-Europe relations that have favoured the new approach to international relations by Mr. Trump.

Let’s rewind the tape. In his first term, Mr. Trump advocated that NATO countries elevate their defence budget to contribute more to NATO. I think in one instance in his advocacy, he asked why the US should fight a war over Montenegro in Europe. That was the very first indication that the US was relooking at its relations with its post-world war, traditional partners. It signalled Trump’s intention that as president he was relooking at the traditional relation.

Europe did not respond. Instead, Trump lost his rerun candidacy and new President Joe Biden continued the traditional relation from across the Atlantic – the US would protect Europe (from whom) including new members of NATO. Under Mr. Biden’s presidency, a war broke out in Europe and the US acted as if the Ukraine was Israel and in fact treated Ukraine as a priority on par with Israel.

The Republican Party in the meantime, rejected the parity approach by Biden and became almost anti-Ukraine, the most vocal in the Senate was the man who later was to become the Vice President, Mr. Vance. But let’s return to defence spending. The British Government, last week, decided to increase budget spending. And three days ago, the EU decided on same.

Does that not prove that Mr. Trump has won round one? Why are they increasing the budget now? Because Trump demanded that for the continuation of the Big Brother umbrella, they have to spend more. The other side of that answer is that they are now spending more because Trump argued that their international policies were being paid for by the US and that should stop.

What the acceptance by Europe of higher defence spending means is that if Europe wants to continue seeing an imaginary monster at their gate then they have to pay for a bigger fortress rather than sit back and expect the US to continue to expand the fortress for them.

Mr. Trump won another round against Europe last week when Europe came up with a peace plan. This document has to be one of the most humiliating moments in the history of European diplomacy over the past 500 years.

Let’s examine it contextually. The new American President met the Russians in Saudi Arabia without European involvement to come up with a peace plan or a war ending paper to put it another way.

The Europeans and Ukrainian Government were livid for not being consulted and shut out from the talks in Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration responded with a commonsensical question – why for three years of the war you produce no ceasefire document and no peace plan?

Europe has now produced a proposal to end the war, literally three years after it began. Why not before and why now? This is where Europe thinks that Mr. Trump is a pliable client that it can continue to manipulate. Europe only now (last Sunday) produced a war-ending document because it wanted the anti-Russian campaign to continue through the continuation of the war and the war will go on because President Biden across the Atlantic will finance Ukraine to keep on fighting.

This is exactly what happened until Biden was ignominiously tossed out of power. The new man, Donald Trump asked three simple questions – why is this war going on in Europe? Why is the US financing it when it has no geo-strategic threat to the US? Why no attempt three years ago at a ceasefire arrangement?

Mr. Trump then announced a new approach to Ukraine based on his three simple questions. He has been proven right on his new Ukraine policy because Europe knows he is deadly serious about his three questions, and has transformed their attitude to the fighting. Europe has lost round two. Trump has won both rounds and the world is seeing the Europeans for their anti-Russian, war mongering attitude.

We conclude this column by advising International Relations students to pay close attention to Mr. Trump changing the US position on Ukraine. Mr. Trump has accepted two things about the current shape of Europe’s international policies. One is the war in Europe is a European effort to weaken Russia and that does not concern the US.

The second thing is that the US sees Russia as a powerful and rich country that the US should do business with. The US will not isolate such a country because US national interest dictates it should have mutually benefitting trade and economic relation with 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.