As the war in Ukraine continues into its third year, President Donald Trump has made it obvious in recent days that Europe cannot rely on the US to defend its borders.
It is expected now that EU and European states will begin to reconsider their approach to defence and militarisation in response to these comments.
Former Irish Ambassador to the UK and EU Bobby McDonagh told The Anton Savage Show that there is “no immediate solution” to “the war in Europe.”
“It’s a gradual process of producing a more coherent and effective response in Europe to what Trump is doing,” he said.
“Trump has not just reversed the US policy on Ukraine and replaced rational thought with Putin’s speaking points, but in general, he’s taking a new approach to global relationships – very much, as you say, the ‘strongman approach’.
“But just because he and the presidents of Russia and China take that approach doesn’t mean that Europe has to abandon the rule of law or human rights or multilateralism.”
The ‘strongman approach’ refers to heads of state such as Putin and Trump who would prefer to strong arm others into deals rather than engaging through diplomatic agencies.
Russian President at left with US President Donald Trump during the G20 meeting in Japan, 28 June 2019. Photo: White HouseMr McDonagh said that while geographically and politically we may feel as though we are on the edge of Western Europe, we still rely on our neighbours for protection.
“The safety of Ireland’s democracy and the preservation of our freedom and the protection of our decent society for the coming generations depends on Europe’s strength,” he said.
“It depends on Europe’s capacity to resist Putin’s brutality in Ukraine – and of course, Putin has made clear that he won’t stop there.
“We have to work with our European partners to prevent what has already happened – like the cyber attacks, which affected our HSE, and potential attacks on underwater cables.”
Unpredictability
According to Mr McDonagh, we should still try to work with the US as much as we can.
“Trump’s unpredictability works both ways,” he said.
“He may do and say awful things, but then he sometimes pulls back from them.
“And there are debates within [his] administration – we know that many of the Republicans in Congress on whom Trump depends don’t agree at all with his approach to Ukraine.”
Mr McDonagh said Ireland needs to examine our own interests and decide what role we will play in this political issue.
Listen back here:
Main image: President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy 25/09/2019 (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
