We are commemorating the third anniversary of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We had hoped that by this time this senseless conflict would have ended and Ukraine would have defended its independent status. The countries of the European Union and the United States of America help it in this mainly with humanitarian, economic and political sanctions against Russia and military logistics.
We perceived that primitive Russian propaganda, accusing Ukraine of starting the war or proclaiming that Zelensky is not a legitimate leader of the state or that he only has 4% of the population’s support in his country, is a disinformation narrative used by the extreme right in democratic states or dictatorships around the world. Few of us in Europe believed that “Putinization” would affect even the White House after the American presidential elections, this symbol of the most influential democracy in the world.
Due to the threat from Russia and the reversal of the US position on the war in Ukraine, Europe suddenly found itself faced with many questions. Is NATO still the guarantor of European security? How and against whom should Europe build economic and defense self-sufficiency? What attitude should Europe take towards the new global players?
I am afraid that there are currently no satisfactory answers to these questions. We know that Zelensky was elected in legitimate elections, unlike Putin, whom French President Emmanuel Macron called a “dictator without elections”. However, Macron, who has recently been initiating informal meetings of European leaders, also said that Europeans must raise their awareness of the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the possible consequences of a change in the US stance on the conflict after Trump takes office.
The French president will be visiting the United States today (Monday). Among other things, he is going to tell the American president that if he lets Russia take over Ukraine, Russia will not stop. Russia will become even stronger, which Macron called a strategic mistake.
Europe must come to its senses, the American Vice President recently said at a security conference in Munich. According to the US, Europe has lost itself in excessive political correctness and has forgotten its original values.
As a European, I believe that our values have not changed, but the world around us has.
