CIVILIZATIONAL SUICIDE

By heaping abuse on Europe and handling Russia and China with kid gloves, the Trump administration's National Security Strategy represents a radical departure from past US policies. But even as America rejects everything it once stood for, Europeans’ only choice is to double down on their own principles

- Carl Bildt

Earlier this month, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov offered a succinct description of the Trump administration's new National Security Strategy (NSS), calling it “largely consistent with our vision.” He’s right.

The NSS offers not even a hint of criticism of Russia, neither for its increasingly authoritarian domestic policies, nor for its blatant military aggression against Ukraine. Instead, it singles out Europe — America’s longstanding democratic friend and ally — for special abuse.

True, when the first Trump administration issued its NSS in 2017, there was plenty of talk about national sovereignty trumping everything else. But that document still recognized the value of America’s allies, stating that “the United States and Europe will work together to counter Russian subversion and aggression.” Moreover, this effort fit into a broader strategy of “great power competition,” wherein China loomed large.