Wake up time for Europe: We believe it is helpful to ask what the rest of the world thinks.
Europe was so preoccupied with itself that it did not realise that the primary goal in Alaska was de-escalation between the nuclear powers.
We have fully expressed our understandable irritation about the Alaska Summit – but the following should give us Europeans pause: Around the world, many leading figures have welcomed the de-escalation of tensions between the US and Russia, noting that this was only possible, because Europe was not at the table. So we are increasingly seen as part of the problem.
On the other hand, many nations want to speak directly with London, Paris, and Berlin. Only at Kyiv’s insistence did the United States invite the EU to be present in Washington onMonday.
There is now a chance for peace that is unlikely to really satisfy anyone. Even President Trump can hardly withhold guarantees of protection from Ukraine – he promised to keep the US out of future conflicts during the 2024 campaign.
But peace in Ukraine likely comes at a price: the partly self-inflicted humiliation of the European powers and the deep, hardening antipathy toward Moscow and Washington among the European elites. The seeds for even greater conflicts are being sown.
The danger of nuclear war between the US and Russia has diminished. A tentative peace in Ukraine is within reach. In the medium to long term, however, the danger of new conflicts in Europe is increasing.
Personal comment:
Nations everywhere are increasingly thinking geopolitically and globally, increasingly protecting their sovereignty and their national interests. Europe’s biggest problem? Blatantly poor strategic foresight. We have long been living in denial of new realities. For over 30 years, the EU has led Europe into devastating strategic weakness – in defensce, energy, production, electricity costs, etc. Enormous sacrifices were made to achieve CO2 targets that have been more than compensated by China and India.
As we warned here long ago, Europe has been stuck in a strategic trap since 2016. Ironically, the more Europe acts as a bloc, the more it misjudges the situation. The EU’s negative record is hard to gloss over, yet we have even more of it to come. Blaming all of this on Ms. von der Leyen, however, is neither fair nor conducive to a solution. It is our collective failure: We want the state to take care of us, and we hardly care about what the outside world really thinks. Those who don’t look beyond their regional horizons hardly have a secure place in global politics and on the geopolitical stage — less so in rough times.
Global Geopolitical Research, Switzerland, 17 Aug 2025
Research made in Switzerland
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