Ukraine Spat Triggers Super Power Europe

N a little over 40 days since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has unleashed cataclysmic changes at home and around the globe.

- GURBIR SINGH

N a little over 40 days since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has unleashed cataclysmic changes at home and around the globe. He has signed hundreds of edicts ranging from imposing heavy tariffs on friends and foes, to sending back illegal immigrants shackled in military planes.

On the global stage, while Trump seems amenable to revisiting his onerous tariff imposts, he has stood unrelenting against Ukraine and the European Union (EU). Within days he has upended the Joe Biden administration's support for NATO and Ukraine, and has been cozying up to Vladimir Putin. The new slogan: 'Peace' at any cost.

Donald Trump has never hidden his dislike for bearing Europe's and NATO's security costs. And his admiration for Putin is legend. But now it has all come to a head. Europe has, collectively and painfully, realized the US is no more a dependable ally; and it is time it pulls together to stand up as an independent power. In his machinations, Trump has inadvertently triggered a tectonic shift in the balance of power. What might emerge is Federal Europe as a new super power, something Trump may not have bargained for.

Zelensky Ambushed A cascade of bullying events have brought us to where we are. Two weeks ago, on 19 February, the US called for talks with Russia in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on ending the Ukraine war. Ukraine and the EU were left gasping — they were not invited!