#LansquenetsCorrespondents
#Europe #Russia #USA #UkraineEurope on the crossroadAs we await the outcome of the Riyadh summit between Russian and US delegates, one aspect remains dramatically clear nonetheless: Europe appears to be permanently cut off from any Russia-Ukraine talks. The sidelining of key European countries and the entire EU itself, openly confirmed by the American envoy to Ukraine, Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, on February 15th at a side event of the Munich Security Conference, the annual international venue where European and global leaders gather to discuss security issues, is of the utmost gravity and denounces the disregard US officials hold towards their European counterparts. This blatant disregard is the inevitable result of the three-year sad spectacle of inaction and disunity the European countries exhibited, especially those from whom Ukraine and the world expected the strongest and most assertive response.
The day before, during the very same conference, more subtle but no less apparent than Kellog’s remarks had already been J.D. Vance’s speech, in which the US vice president rhetorically laid emphasis on various concerns within Europe and the EU and explicitly claimed that Europe’s greatest enemy isn’t any foreign power but herself. Irrespective of the righteousness of the speech’s contents, what is relevant is the conveyed message: as much as the Russians don’t recognize Ukrainian sovereignty, the United States disowns European authority regarding matters of American interest (i.e. rare earths in Donbas), even when such interest is partial and the particular issues occur in Europe. Although this should not surprise anybody, when the balance of power is considered, such contempt for the European interest and authority has to raise serious questions about Europe’s dependence on our American partners – or masters.
On February 17th, in the wake of the Munich conference and fearfully looking at the Riyadh talks, French president Emmanuel Macron convened an “emergency summit” at the Élysée palace with UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Denmark and EU leaders. What could have been an opportunity to take swift and decisive action in response to the aforementioned matters turned out in just another failed attempt. All sides were stuck to their well-known stances, ranging from the French and British interventionism to Germany’s hesitancy. Moreover, Italian PM Meloni expressed disappointment of the lack of involvement of NATO’s and EU’s easternmost countries, those bordering with Russia. Thus, the rush to convene appears to have been driven by hysteria rather than resolve.
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