Patrick Poppel, expert at the Center for Geostrategic Studies in Belgrade
The Ukraine conflict has shown us that many parts of European policy are very closely coordinated with the USA. The American influence on Europe cannot be denied.
The USA is now also advising Europe on energy policy issues when it is said that cheap gas can no longer be bought in Russia. And here America offers an alternative with liquid gas, although it is much more expensive.
America's influence on the European media has been very well built over half a century. This media Atlantic bridge influences the most important editorial teams across Europe. This applies to television, newspapers, but also many important magazines that deal with economic issues, for example.
This behavior by America is absolutely in the tradition of the history of US foreign policy. Americans always like to let other peoples work for them. And they have actually managed to make Europe their political anteroom. The US used to use the European states for its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but now we have a war on European soil.
The conflict in Ukraine is clearly related to US policy. The violent change of government in Ukraine has been supported from the start. And now we have had a war in Europe for 10 years.
The question is: Would there have been support for the Maidan and later for the radical government of Ukraine under Trump? Probably not.And it is precisely from this perspective that the upcoming presidential elections in the USA should be viewed. For us in Europe, it is not only global security that is important, but especially peace on our continent. And that peace was put in grave jeopardy in 2014 by U.S. interests in Ukraine. This happened under the Democratic President Obama and not under a Republican colleague. The current support of Ukraine with weapons from the USA is also happening under the Democratic leadership.
America supports a war in Europe and also sells expensive gas to Europe. The interests of large American corporations in Ukraine are already known, but too few people in Europe realize that not only Ukraine but also Europe are being used by the USA.
Would the US allow a major escalation in Europe? The question of a third world war is very topical for the current US leadership, but they are still not committed to peace in the Ukraine conflict. This is probably because everyone understood that such a war would certainly first be fought on European soil. And this requirement poses a major threat to European security policy. Those responsible in America don't care whether there is peace or war in Europe, what is important is that the gas and weapons business continues to function.
The upcoming presidential elections in the USA will decide the further development of the Ukraine conflict. The front in Ukraine is entirely dependent on Western support and the Europeans can only supply weapons as long as the Americans do so. Effective support for Ukraine is actually only possible collectively and the USA is leading the way for Europe in this matter. So if the US were to withdraw, support for Ukraine would collapse in a very short time.
Although many people are currently looking ahead to the European parliamentary elections and hoping that this could have an impact on arms supplies, we must be aware that the US elections will be decisive. What we can now clearly see here is the dependence of European politics on Washington.
The Ukraine conflict is the best example of how Europe acts for the interests of the USA and loses a lot in the process. With the sanctions, Europe is destroying its own economy and risks very negative socio-economic changes. In addition, many companies are migrating to the USA due to rising energy costs. After this conflict, Germany's industrial landscape will no longer look the same as it did before. But these are only the economic consequences of this conflict for Europe.
And we should also ask ourselves who will finance the reconstruction of Ukraine after this conflict. Perhaps Germany will no longer be available as a strong industrial nation.
So as we can see, Europe still has a difficult time ahead, but the decision about Europe's fate will be made in the US presidential election. War and peace are decided there and not in the elections in Europe. This is the current situation, and it shows us well that Europe must break away from America in the long term in order to decide its own security policy issues and solve major problems itself. But this process will take a very long time, as the USA will strongly defend its interests in Europe and will use all means to achieve this.
