The prospect of American relations with Europe and NATO is darker than ever

According to RCO News Agency, the recently published “US National Security Strategy 2025” document reflects a fundamental change in America’s view of its role in the world; A change that is based on a deep critique of post-Cold War policies and tries to draw a coherent, prioritized and national power-based framework for the coming decades.

Pointing out that past strategies have been overly ambitious, interventionist, and unfocused, this document argues that the United States should move away from “running the world” and focus on “protecting its vital interests” by relying on economic, industrial, and military power.

At the conceptual level, the document highlights three main axes: first, redefining the national interest around internal security, rebuilding the economy, controlling immigration, protecting infrastructure, and strengthening deterrence.

The second axis is the reform of the power infrastructure from economy and energy to technology and military force as a means of achieving the goals and the third axis is the readjustment of foreign policy based on principles such as focusing on vital interests, non-interventionism, flexible realism, etc.

This framework shows that the US government believes that national power and internal security are the basis of any effective role in the international system.

From a regional point of view, the document makes a kind of strict prioritization. In the Americas, the implementation of a new version of the Monroe Doctrine is proposed to deal with the influence of extra-regional actors and to control immigration and organized crime. In Asia, competition with China is still the main axis; A competition that is both economic and technological and based on military deterrence, especially around the Taiwan Strait and the western Pacific island chain.

In the case of Europe, the document emphasizes the “revival of identity and civilizational self-confidence” and at the same time calls for an increase in Europe’s contribution to its security.

In the US National Security Strategy document published by US President Donald Trump’s administration, Europe is described as a continent in “civilizational decline”.

This document, which emphasizes the “America First” philosophy, sees Europe not only economically and militarily weak, but also places it on the verge of “civilizational extinction”.

The document notes that Europe’s share of global GDP has fallen from 25% in 1990 to 14% today, and attributes this to national and transnational regulations such as the European Union. It also warns that within a few decades, some NATO members will become a “non-European majority”, which will call into question the sustainability of the alliance with the US.

The document accuses Europe of “distorting democratic processes,” including suppressing far-right parties to maintain support for Ukraine.

The American national security document also describes the European Union as “anti-democratic” and the cause of weakening national sovereignty, and condemns European governments for “unrealistic expectations” about the victory in the Ukraine war and suppression of freedom of expression, such as restrictions on opposition media.

The document calls a quick end to the conflict in Ukraine a “vital interest” of the United States, and the goal is to “restore strategic stability with Russia.”

In this document, the US promises active diplomacy to manage Europe-Russia relations, but emphasizes “reducing military presence” in Europe and shifting focus to the Western Hemisphere, such as the fight against drug cartels.

According to this document, Europe should take primary responsibility for its own defense and the US should focus on opening European markets to American goods.

Regarding the Middle East, this document shows that this region is no longer the main focus of American foreign policy and has been replaced by economic cooperation, energy and regional agreements.

In the case of Africa, America is trying to move away from the traditional aid model and move relations towards trade, investment and geo-economic competition.

In general, the introduction of this document shows that America is transitioning from a period of “scattered global ambition” to a period of “focused, competitive strategy based on strengthening domestic power bases”; An approach that aims to prevent the erosion of national power and create capacity for sustainable competition against the big players of the 21st century.

In the coming years, America will try to deploy its military forces in the Western Hemisphere

“Mohammad Ali Shafi’i”, an expert on American issues, said in connection with the American national security document that was published in recent days: “This document shows us that America’s view of the Western Hemisphere has increased with some difference from the Monroe Doctrine.” Accordingly, in the coming years, the United States will try to reduce its military forces, especially in Europe, and deploy them in the Western Hemisphere, as we are now witnessing in Venezuela and the Caribbean region.

He stated that “based on this policy, the military, political and economic pressures of the US government and countries that do not have direct cooperation with the US and are not aligned with Washington will increase, in this connection we can mention countries such as Colombia, Mexico and even Brazil”, he continued: Based on this document, the US will try to reduce China’s presence in the Western Hemisphere as much as possible, like the action it took in the Panama region and pressured Chinese companies to leave the Panama region. It is likely to do this policy in other countries of the Western Hemisphere as well, in order to increase the influence of the United States.

From Trump’s point of view, the issues in the West Asian region have been resolved

Referring to the way this document looks at West Asia, this American expert said: According to Trump’s view, Iran’s regional influence has decreased, and in fact, from his point of view, issues in the West Asian region have been resolved, as in this regard, Lebanon is now under control, Syria is moving in line with the policies of the United States and the Zionist regime, and Iran is also weakened.

Shafi’i also stated that “America does not have much problem with other countries in the region in West Asia”, and said: “In the case of Iraq, it is also trying to control this country through financial and economic means, so America has decided not to have a strong presence in the West Asia region and to increase the weight of the Zionist regime along with its Arab allies in this region.”

The importance of Europe and Ukraine for America has decreased

He also looked at the view of the United States in this document in relation to the European region and added: According to this 33-page document, the importance of Europe and Ukraine for the United States has decreased. Since 2010, the volume of economic relations between Europe and the United States has been decreasing, and since Trump took office, this issue has decreased significantly. On the other hand, the security and political cooperation between Europe and the United States will not be the same as before, and due to this issue, the NATO treaty will probably become a formal matter in which the United States is no longer decisive, and the Europeans, especially Western Europe, will be forced to move towards the formulation of a new security treaty.

Shafi’i continued: From the point of view of the Americans, Europe has an unrealistic idea of ​​Washington’s proposal to solve the Ukraine problem and that eventually they will be forced to accept this proposed proposal and close the Ukraine case.

Trump’s way of looking at China is different from previous US presidents

This expert on American issues also stated that “in this document, there is not much mention of American policies related to the issue of China, although the nuclear issue of China has been repeated more than 20 times”, he said: In general, this document has not focused much on East Asia and China, and this shows that Trump’s view of China is different from that of previous American presidents. Trump believes that in order to contain China in East Asia, the countries of this region should gain more weight, play a greater role, and America should also reduce its weight.

In this connection, Shafi’i pointed out: For example, regarding the issue of Taiwan, Trump said that if China launches a military attack on this region, the United States will react harshly, while previously the Democratic President of the United States, Biden, had threatened that Washington would enter into a military conflict with Beijing.

He also stated that “one of the solutions that the US may take in relation to this issue is the discussion of imposing sanctions against Beijing”, he said: of course, on the other hand, due to the strong dependence of the economy of China and the US on each other, this is not easily possible, and just as Trump was forced to back down on the issue of tariffs, he cannot do much in relation to the imposition of sanctions. It does not exist with China.

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