World News: A New World Diplomacy

Details

Category: World News - Europe

Published on Tuesday, 18 February 2025 12:26

Written by Olivier Longhi

The foundation for a new world diplomacy, the United States, China, Russia and the others, President Donald Trump has conveyed to European allies the relationships in place since the end of World War II, are shifting in value.

By putting an end to the multilateralism that had prevailed since 1945 and by giving the Europeans back the responsibility for their own security, Donald Trump has laid the foundations for a new world diplomacy: the United States, China, Russia and the others.

Beltway Insider: Trump/DOGE, DEI Shrinks, Gaza, NTSB, DOJ Resignation/Adams, Kennedy Center/Blowback

Humiliated, ridiculed and infantilized. These are the three adjectives that can describe Europeans in the aftermath of the Munich conference where J.D. Vance, the vice-president of the United States, set the terms of future diplomatic relations with the old continent.

From now on, the chancelleries of Paris, Berlin, London, Rome and others will have to count on the United States to ensure their security, turning the table of eighty years of multilateralism resulting from the Second World War. There are several reasons for this attitude, which relegates Europe to the rank of a mere secondary concern, or even a jar of bad taste that we don't know what to do with and that we put annoyed in desperation on a corner of a piece of furniture.

The first lies in Donald Trump's desire to get rid of the obligations of the old world, of political constraints, perceived by him as such in any case, which would hinder the forward march of the United States. Reduced to a simple economic space, a place of trade, Europe is worth no more in the eyes of Donald Trump than the importance he intends to give it: low.

World News: Trump and Risk Diplomacy

Negotiations and Rare Earths

The second reason is to speed up the resolution of the Ukrainian problem by exchanging directly with the Russians in order to be able to focus on the United States' number one enemy, China. The negotiations undertaken with Vladimir Putin, under the astonished eyes of Europeans who are still spectators of their history, highlight President Trump's desire to get rid of the long chains of negotiations, even if the said negotiations were to offend Europeans who are overwhelmed and stunned by Trump's interventionism and to remove instrumentalized Ukrainians.

The last reason is the need for the occupant of the White House to give substance to his campaign promises by disengaging the United States as much as possible from international affairs. The settlement of the Ukrainian issue will naturally not be without a return on investment, as Donald Trump intends to take advantage of Ukrainian rare earths, which are essential in the manufacture of the tools of the new technologies so dear to Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. As a self-respecting capitalist, Donald Trump considers it right to profit from any operation, whether political or financial.

World News: Trump and Putin Seek to Resurrect the Iron Curtain

Insignificant and Divided

As for the collateral effects, here the timid reaction of Europeans forced to urgently find a way to ensure a sustainable common defence in a world in perpetual movement, they appear to Donald Trump as negligible, even insignificant. Long steeped in a form of self-importance stemming from its diplomatic history, in some respects not very inglorious moreover, Europe is being treated at the height of what it has become on an international scale: one actor among many others, overtaken by the struggle that the United States, Russia and China are now waging.

In a world that is once again polarized, among the three giants mentioned above, it becomes very difficult for the old continent not only to count but also to exist. Divided for three years on the nature and scope of the aid to be provided to Ukraine, divided on the latter's entry into NATO or the European Union, the Continentals have let the train of responsibility pass to leave the leadership to others, in this case Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. And there is nothing to suggest that they agree to stop the convoy so that others can get on board...

World News: Populism, Trump and Greenland

Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently a professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist and recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, was a press and publishing consultant, and was a communications consultant.