Trump Has Rattled NATO: Brace for a Big Shake-Up

Geopolitics quaked after America left its European allies in the lurch over a Ukraine peace deal. NATO's rupture isn't all. A worst-case scenario may see China gain. India must stay alert

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The Earth's core might be shifting shape invisibly, as scientists suspect, but its surface is clearly in for the seismic shock of a geopolitical rupture. This week, the US under Donald Trump sent shudders across Europe with a stern message on the latter's security. By asking its trans-Atlantic allies to fend for themselves, America might have begun to pull the rug from under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a steady alliance of Western countries bound by a pledge of all-for-one and one-for-all. To the alarm of European leaders, what exactly the US shift implied was still sinking in when news broke of Washington's pursuit of direct talks with Moscow on a peace deal to end the Ukraine War. Neither Kyiv nor any EU representative was invited to a warm-up meeting of American and Russian officials held in Riyadh. The stark reality of Europe's voice being kept out, placed in the context of US hints that Russia may get to keep occupied Ukrainian territory, has stunned not just America's closest NATO allies, but also others around the world. Pushe