Will Europe survive without the US and NATO?

Donald Trump's policy towards Europe is becoming increasingly clear: although he encourages European countries to act independently in matters of security, he has not given up on his intention to preserve the US's strategic sphere of influence. If Trump alienates Europe, could this lead to a decrease in the need for the US in the long term? Following the dispute over financial obligations within NATO, European leaders are moving to increase their military capabilities. Such topics were discussed in the "Geopolitics" program of Kun.uz.

- If Trump alienates Europe, won't the need for the US decrease in the future?

Shuhrat Rasul: If we carefully follow the recent interviews and press statements of the leaders, we can see that the future Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Meers, has not yet made a decisive decision. But he asked France for a nuclear umbrella as a guarantee. Trump has not yet said, "We will take out the nuclear weapons in Germany." He only talked about the alliance policy, saying, "If you don't do what I say, if you don't increase the money, if you don't allocate more money to NATO." But he did not say, "We will take out the weapons." Nevertheless, Friedrich Meers is saying, "We need a new nuclear umbrella," and is appealing to France, and Macron seems to have somehow resolved this positively.

The repeated statements: the statements that Europe should have its own armed forces will only accelerate after what happened. But the White House doors are not closed yet. The American administration and Trump himself said this at the end and said, "When you are ready for peace terms, come back." European leaders should step in and try to mediate.

One of Zelensky's mistakes was not to remember the events of 2014. Thus, he created a problem for himself out of nowhere.

- Has the world begun an era of "Alliances" like the world wars?

Oybek Sirojov: No, there is still time. The power of Europe is connected with its economy, and the core of that integration is also connected with the economy. But if we compare the economy, that is, economic development, with military development, they are opposite to each other. That is, in order to develop military power, we have to give up certain economic and social issues. Today, Europe has a dilemma. So, as noted above, if it is necessary to abandon the existing economic union and focus on the military sphere in order to independently ensure its own security or the security of the whole of Europe, how ready is society for this? How ready are governments? Will it be politically sustainable?

Anvar Yuldashev: Europe is very worried about the outcome of the meeting at the White House. The EU countries have a gross domestic product of twenty trillion dollars and a population of four hundred and fifty million. In this sense, it is not small. But can any of these countries currently bring military spending to five percent, as the US demands? They are unable to increase the share of their gross domestic product spent on the military sphere by more than two percent. How ready is society for this?

Kamoliddin Rabbimov: When Donald Trump first came to power for four years, relations were not completely severed. Relations with some countries have become quite tense, but ties have not been completely severed. At the moment, there is no alternative to the United States for the security of the European Union. If America leaves Europe, it will take, I don’t know, maybe 20-30 years for the European Union to form a large industry or army or defense system that will ensure its security. That is, it will take a very long time, because America is fully protecting the European Union. But the European Union has already realized this. The trend in America is not only related to Donald Trump, big changes are happening inside America.

Europe, Ursula von der Leyen, said last year that there was a proposal to introduce a European Union defense commissioner.

Similarly, now France and Germany, together with their main center, have projects to form a defense system. There are currently two processes: the first is not to weaken NATO, and the second is for Europe to gain time by gradually increasing its security. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”