Europe Clings to Old Delusions of Grandeur

By Tiernan Cannon | February 21, 2025 | 11:45am

Photo by Number 10, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

International Affairs Ukraine

Europe Clings to Old Delusions of Grandeur

It wasn’t long ago that Europe was the power center of the world. The words and actions of the old imperial powers mattered, shaping the rest of the world to best serve their interests. But those days are gone. Today Europe—which, despite efforts to cut itself adrift, includes the United Kingdom—is little more than a vassal of an erratic United States, which, under Trump, is quickly recalibrating the shape and form of its empire. Europe is increasingly subject to forces beyond its control, and its establishment leaders are struggling to handle that fact.

Europe remains relatively wealthy and powerful in global terms, but its decline is obvious. Living standards for ordinary people have collapsed and its leaders no longer wield the global influence of old. They guzzled down the Kool-Aid of trusted and eternal American power after World War II, and, since then, have delightedly served as a submissive partner to their American Daddy. There were benefits to being a fawning, subservient favorite of the imperial heartland, but now that a man who nakedly despises the old continent’s reliance on the United States sits in the Oval Office, this post-war settlement is faltering. Insomuch as it’s possible for Trump to feel the human sensation of joy, he seems almost gleeful when demonstrating to the world how weak Europe really is.

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Trump’s feverish foreign policy is reshaping Europe, but, clearly, the most immediate effects will be felt in Ukraine. An end to its war against Russia is on the cards, but neither Ukrainian leaders nor their European counterparts look like they’ll have much say over how that end shall come. This is a conversation between major powers, and neither Ukraine nor Europe constitutes a major power.

Trump is likely to impose a terrible situation on Ukraine. Reports suggest he will guarantee Ukrainian security only in exchange for a massive cut of Ukraine’s rare earth mineral wealth and for greater American access to Ukrainian ports, infrastructure, and oil and gas. In exchange for such an immense surrender of its riches, Ukraine would still probably have to give up on the idea of recovering any of the territories it’s lost to Russia since 2014, while its dream of NATO membership, as persistently teased by the Biden administration, would be effectively killed, as the new U.S. secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, recently made clear.

The situation in Ukraine is bleak, and Trump is callously taking advantage of it. But this is also the legacy of his predecessor. Ukraine is in this position because of the Biden administration and its European cheerleaders, who, under the mistaken belief that a proxy war in Ukraine would bleed Putin’s Russia dry and spark a regime change, powered the conflict to grind on for longer than it needed to. Biden and the Europeans blindly committed to a total Ukrainian victory, and, in doing so, they repeatedly squandered opportunities to make peace.

During the very early stages of the war, Ukraine was doing well on the battlefield. Both it and Russia were apparently open to striking a peace deal at that stage, only a couple of months into the war, but this possibility was reportedly destroyed by Western leaders, who convinced themselves that, with sufficient support, Ukraine could win the war outright. So the fighting ground on, and, over the coming months and years, transformed into a brutal war of attrition that gradually turned in Russia’s favor. But, even as it became clear Russia could not be defeated on the battlefield, the Biden administration refused to negotiate with Putin, and the war continued.

The Ukrainians were used by the West. The legitimate defense of their country transformed into a failed proxy war. The true toll in lives is unclear, but, by September 2024, The Wall Street Journal had estimated that maybe a quarter of a million people from both sides had been killed, with something like 800,000 people injured. The Ukrainian population has dropped by about a quarter, as people have fled the fighting. Its economy, which was already weak before the war, now is in tatters. So much has been sacrificed in pursuit of a fantasy of destroying Russia.

The impacts of the war have not just been felt in Ukraine. Much of the world has been damaged by the rising costs of food and energy that have resulted, with Europe, in particular, politically imploding in the wake of the dramatic decline in living standards the public has experienced. The far right has fed off the growing sense of despair throughout Europe, while the sorts of establishment, pro-American leaders that have tended to rule the continent in recent times have become utterly despised.

It is these same leaders who now call for Europe to stand on its own two feet, as Trump’s America turns its back on them. Trump has demanded that Europe spend more on its own defense, which, all things considered, probably isn’t the worst idea. Europe clearly does need to develop defense capabilities that aren’t totally reliant on the United States, but it is already economically stretched thin. It cannot sufficiently build its capabilities at the same time as it funds a proxy war in Ukraine without the U.S.’s help.

Why, then, are some of its leaders acting as if it could?

The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, recently committed to pumping £3 billion ($3.6 billion) of aid into Ukraine every year “for as long as it takes,” which would come on top of the £12.8 billion ($15.6 billion) the U.K. has already provided since 2022. The U.K.’s own domestic economy is in terrible shape, and the country’s infrastructure is underfunded and crumbling, but still billions can apparently be found to militarize against Russia. Will the British public tolerate funding that? Starmer has even claimed British troops could be sent to Ukraine for peacekeeping duties and also reiterated the U.K.’s position that Ukraine will join NATO, even as the United States—that is, the player that actually has a say in such matters—makes clear that is not going to happen.

It’s as if the prime minister is virtue signaling towards a world order that is presently being dismantled. His hawkish position is in line with that of the late Biden administration and other leaders of the E.U., but it has no basis in reality. Russia will not be defeated by Europe militarily, and, unjust as it may feel, a degree of diplomatic normalization has to be implemented. Compulsively stoking tensions will not serve Europe’s interests.

While Russia undoubtedly bears prime responsibility for the horrors unleashed upon Ukraine over the last number of years, the West’s refusal to engage in diplomacy means it, too, has blood on its hands. This war of attrition cannot go on. As the U.S. leaves Europe to deal with its own defense, European leaders must recognize the reality of their position. They must engage with Russia through diplomacy and by making certain concessions based on the reality on the ground, not through endlessly pissing Russia off and making promises to Ukraine it has no real intention of keeping. Otherwise, it risks repeating the same fatal mistakes of its American master.