Europe can’t expect America to ride to its rescue against Putin

Joe Biden received a lot of flak for suggesting that Nato might be divided about what to do next if Vladimir Putin limits Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to a ‘minor incursion’. While clumsy and ill-advised, the comments were what Americans call a ‘Kingsley Gaffe’ – a situation when a politician accidentally tells the truth.

After all, Nato does have a problem, and has had it for a while. Back in 2019, Emmanuel Macron raised eyebrows for claiming that Nato was becoming brain dead due to waning American interest in Europe. The first year of Biden’s mandate as president showcased a host of policy decisions that revealed that Europe was an afterthought for Americans – from the Afghanistan withdrawal, to Aukus, and the ongoing talks with Russia in Geneva, conducted over the heads of Europeans.

The issue here is neither Trump nor Biden. Rather, it is the fact that the United States does not have and ‘won’t have a military big enough to increase commitments in Europe and have a chance of restoring (US) edge in Asia against China,’ as Elbridge Colby – the architect of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, dominated heavily by China – put