Trump’s Move and Europe’s Confusion

Versione Italiana

A meaningful silence would certainly be more convenient at this moment, or a look charged with innuendo, like “I talked and wrote about this”. None of that. Let’s talk about it openly: reading the newspapers, listening to commentators, and studying political declarations, we are witnessing a rather unusual phenomenon. To be explicit, we are specifically considering the reactions we note with respect to the initiatives taken by Trump.

So, what is unusual?

It is the attitude that is noticeable even from journalists, the tone of the statements by politicians, the size in most cases of the responses being expressed with respect to Trump’s choices and the ongoing relationship between Putin and Trump.

We will use a key word to define “everything”: it is “confusion”. It does not really seem possible that Trump has “rehabilitated” Putin by declaring as he did that everything that has been said and written is as good as wastepaper. European interlocutors are astonished. They are clearly and seriously irritated, but unable to respond in a credible manner. An avalanche has collapsed on them that until a few minutes before had only been dreamed of and considered impossible.

Yet, though Trump had been clear, they had not believed him. Moreover, there was a path that could have been pursued earlier but had not been taken, and that was to talk and discuss peace while waging war. To respond positively to the Pope’s invitations while sending aid and weapons.

In essence, to have a political as well as military response, because this has always been the way to deal with the “dimensions of international politics”.

And now we are naked at the finish line. Europe is naked. And the “confusion” varies in the ways it is expressed, ranging from those who want to “replace” the USA in supporting Ukraine to those who rebel against the announced tariffs thinking precisely of that invaded country. It reaches those who remain silent, accustomed to always being the doormat of the North American power. Meanwhile, everyone focuses on Ukraine, expending serious words on what may seem like the betrayal of that people, without remembering the recent past and dramatic behaviors already implemented in the Middle East and Africa, which serve as reminders.

But that’s not the point. Vulgarizing Trump is ridiculous and unproductive. His moves are anything but reckless. Let’s look at them.

On the one hand, he courts Russia over Ukraine and he does so for a very specific reason: Putin was, together with China, the main protagonist of the BRICS and of the attempt to remove the weight of the dollar as an “international common currency”. He therefore must be helped, and the validity of his leadership must be returned to him by everyone, and not just by the other half of the BRICS firmament.

Better to be a point of reference for everyone than a leader of the “others”. Otherwise, Putin would be forced to continue in his leading anti-American role. And what do you want Ukraine to be in this context? Only and at most a place with rare earths to buy at a low price – and borders mean little to Trump. He had told us this for some time when speaking of Greenland and Panama.

Was Europe deaf? It seems so. The real enemy for Trump was and remains China, which possesses the economic “weapons” to play every game. Between us, I wouldn’t sleep soundly if I were Taiwan in light of the value that the American President places on borders compared to what he reserves for his commercial and economic strategies.

Then again, we cannot forget that Trump is “copying” the BRICS, because that alliance has a specific characteristic: it does not engage in democratic reasoning, it does not ask its participants for any state ethics and any moral reason for existence. And Trump is copying this, wanting to demonstrate that he is better than the original.

The European “confusion” also has other obvious causes, and one above all: is it possible and right to oppose one’s own great military ally? I fear that this contradiction will explode and cannot be quashed in the traditional ways that Europe prefers.

In reality, either we will only be hopeful servants, or we will become autonomous actors in international politics. By leaving NATO? For goodness’ sake, not now. But by building our own comprehensive policy, yes. For everything, not just defense. This means opening new markets, choosing interlocutors, for example in Africa and Asia, and being proactive. This should be clear above all for the democratic, socialist and progressive forces that have long appeared in serious trouble in Europe precisely because of the clear difficulty of designing scenarios, indicating paths, and expressing the differences that become “value”.

One cannot help but understand that what is happening is redefining the roles and meanings of politics and at the same time opens up obvious opportunities. To be the Europe that opens up a new space in the terrain of globalization. The “old” way of being is well and truly over, and the new one does not yet exist, and must be pursued and found. Considering this well, even in our small Italian dimension, is fundamental.

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Trump’s Move and Europe’s Confusion was last modified: Febbraio 15th, 2025 by MAURIZIO CECCONI

Trump’s Move and Europe’s Confusion
ultima modifica: 2025-02-14T17:00:35+01:00
da MAURIZIO CECCONI

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