If Germany were invaded, just 38% of its citizens would be willing to fight for their country, according to a recent poll. Fifty-nine percent would not. In Italy, another poll found that only 16% of those of fighting age would take up arms. In France, Gen. Fabien Mandon, the army’s chief of staff, told a conference of mayors last month that the nation would be “at risk” if it “wavers because we are not ready to accept losing our children.” This statement of the obvious set off a political furor.
It’s in this context that the Trump administration’s latest national security strategy, released last week, landed in Europe with a thud.
It’s not hard to see why. America’s chief foreign policy priorities, according to the document, are now focused on the Western Hemisphere and Asia. The European Union stands accused of suppressing political freedom; subverting national sovereignty; obstructing economic dynamism; promoting migration policies that could lead to “civilizational erasure”; and obstructing a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine.
“It is far from obvious,” the document warns, “whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies.”
These are the talking points of the European far right. Russia is never treated in the document as an enemy of the United States, just as Ukraine is never treated as an ally. Instead, the real enemies, in the eyes of the national security strategy, are migrants and bureaucrats, out to destroy whatever remains of an authentic Europe.