U.S. Strategic Pivot Shocks Europe

The U.S. National Security Strategy, which every U.S. president publishes in his first year in office, defines the key security priorities of the presidential administration. Donald Trump did the same and shocked Europe.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took care of the prelude by not attending the meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states in Brussels. Was this a signal that the transatlantic alliance was ceasing to be an American priority? The strategy suggests this.

The only part of the world where the US administration sees a threat to democracy is Europe. European countries are portrayed as stray and declining, having ceded their sovereignty to the European Union. They are led by governments that suppress democracy and silence the voices of those who seek a more nationalistic, right-wing turn. Europe is too weak to remain a "reliable ally of the US." And this is also due to the failure to manage illegal migration.

Change can be brought about by the "patriotic parties" that are in opposition to the current centrist governments. Does Trump actually consider key European leaders to be enemies?

On the contrary, Russia is nowhere mentioned as a possible threat to American interests, despite the war in Ukraine. The US wants to end hostilities in Ukraine at the negotiating table as soon as possible to prevent an unwanted escalation or spread of the conflict, restore strategic stability in relations with Russia, and ensure Ukraine's future reconstruction and survival as a viable state.

However, Europe's "coalition of the willing" cannot be thrilled by the accusation that European leaders have "unrealistic expectations" about the war. And what will be the form of strategic stability with Russia against the background of the conclusion on the end of further NATO expansion?

It seems that Trump's "tough" policy towards Russia was just a smokescreen, because the United States is rather heading towards the politics of spheres of influence in line with Moscow and over the heads of Europeans.

And isn't it also starting with a new strategy of countdown to NATO's "extinction"? Pentagon officials have announced that the U.S. is demanding that Europe take over most of NATO's conventional defense capabilities — from espionage to missiles — by 2027. If this does not happen, which is almost certain, the US may stop participating in some of the alliance's defense coordination mechanisms.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that the era of American "utopian idealism" is over - adding that now hard realism must take over. Europe is thus probably on the threshold of a completely new security reality, to which the newly incoming Czech government will also have to respond.

So far, the government has declared a more pragmatic foreign policy course in its program statement, but the next cabinet will not have it easy. Will he, for example, be able and willing to accept Hegseth's "hard realism"?

Miloš Balabán, Právo Daily