The visit of European leaders to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump clearly revealed their weakness.
The editorial office reports that the UK-based publication Spiked writes: European leaders traveled to the US immediately after Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, spending hours in the White House's East Room trying to explain their positions.
The article states that British Prime Minister Kir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Fridrix Mers, and other European leaders emphasized the importance of Ukraine's defense in their speeches and conveyed their thanks to Trump. Despite their aim to come to Washington to 'show Europe's strength,' this visit did not yield the expected results and, on the contrary, further exposed Europe's weakness.
The analysis notes that European heads of state played the role of 'beggars,' relying on the US's favor for Ukraine's future security. Despite their strong statements, the volume of arms and financial aid was both delayed and insufficient. Last year, while European Union countries spent 21.9 billion euros on Russian oil and gas, they allocated only 18.7 billion euros in aid to Ukraine.
The article's authors state that the decades-long policy of military disarmament and deindustrialization pursued by European states has stripped them of their ability to even wage a limited-scale war. For this reason, European leaders traveled to Washington to ask the US to continue bearing the burden of Europe's defense.
At the meeting, Trump declared that European countries would have to form the first line of defense, while the US would provide support. However, the article emphasizes that these statements do not imply a concrete military intervention commitment and indicate that Europe is still operating in the shadow of the US.
Consequently, this meeting held at the White House did not lead to discussions of real steps regarding Ukraine. Instead of reducing their dependence on the US, European leaders confirmed their weak and dependent position before Washington. This, instead of 'showing Europe's strength,' on the contrary, demonstrated its political impotence.
Sevinc Kərimova