It’s Time for a New Trans-Atlantic Bargain

Europe should take primary responsibility for its security, but the United States needs to deliver key assurances to allow such a transition.

I wrote the following piece for Foreign Policy:

The shocking turn in U.S. policy away from Ukraine and its long-standing allies and toward Russia has led European leaders to make a fundamental reassessment of their security requirements. Gone are the days where faith in dialogue and reliance on the United States could be assumed. Now, Europe needs to take responsibility for bolstering Ukraine and defending itself.

The March 6 emergency European Council meeting resulted in fundamental agreement on a core principle: European governments, alone and together, will devote the necessary resources to finance a rapid buildup of their defenses and support for Ukraine. These decisions are critically important, for without adequate funding there can be no real security.

But money alone is not enough. The key question Europeans still need to answer is how to ensure Ukraine’s security without U.S. backing and how to take primary responsibility for their own defense. Both will take time—in the latter case even years to complete. While U.S. President Donald Trump’s Washington may ultimately leave Europe no choice but to move forward on its own, European leaders would be well advised to make the United States an offer that will be hard to refuse.

Such an offer would have two elements: First, a commitment to deploy a significant reassurance force into Ukraine to prevent future Russian attacks as part of any cessation of hostilities. And second, a clear timetable for transitioning primary responsibility of Europe’s defense onto European shoulders.

Read the entire piece in Foreign Policy.