February 20, 2025
By Nasser Kandil
• The vision of a united, independent Europe – one that could stand as a global pole in its own right, as envisioned by General Charles de Gaulle – never materialised, thwarted by an American veto. The U.S. insisted on keeping Western Europe as nothing more than its geopolitical backyard, a subordinate extension of its power as it rose from the ashes of World War II. Perhaps de Gaulle’s ousting, through what resembled the kind of left-liberal revolution Donald Trump decries today, was America’s punishment for his pursuit of European sovereignty.
• The European Union, as it emerged after the Cold War, was unmistakably an American creation. It served as a containment vessel for Eastern Europe, freshly severed from the Soviet Union, enticing it westward toward Russia’s borders. This expansion came at the expense of Western Europe’s robust economies, setting the stage for their gradual subjugation. The long-term goal was clear: weaken the economic strongholds of Western Europe and position the EU as a fragile entity ripe for external control – one where the costs of absorbing Eastern Europe would ultimately be offset through a redistribution of dominance and profits.
• Western Europe – the old Europe – paid the price. It lost its agricultural sector, its food industries, and its textile and consumer manufacturing to the influx of cheap labor and lower-cost goods from Eastern Europe. What remained was its heavy industry, which the Ukraine war and Europe’s stupidity in its self-inflicted energy crisis – cutting off Russian oil and gas – have now driven overseas, much of it migrating to the United States.
• For the first time, Europe faces existential geopolitical challenges. Russia has defied the attempts to bring it down and has seized the strategic initiative. Meanwhile, the U.S. is shifting course, seeking reconciliation with Russia without involving Europe, signaling a practical withdrawal from the pivotal alliance. Washington is now weighing its financial and economic interests against the cost of maintaining its European commitments.
• Within Europe’s major powers, particularly Germany and France, public sentiment is shifting. Many now question the logic of persisting in the Ukraine war and standing alone in confrontation with Russia without guaranteed American support. A growing right-wing political movement advocates reducing integration within the European Union, echoing Trumpian rhetoric about economic revival and protective trade policies.
• Europe now faces a grim dilemma: If it continues the war alone, it will be defeated alone – fracturing under the strain, with parts of it potentially realigning toward a new Russia. If it abandons the war and follows the evolving U.S.-Russia trajectory, it will do so from a position of weakness and irrelevance, leading to disintegration all the same. But if the moment of transformation arrives, then dismantling the union may become a decision and the rallying cry for change.
