The Consequences of the Conflict in Ukraine for American Military Policy in Europe

The conflict in Ukraine has allowed the United States to strengthen its influence in Europe. Sweden and Finland succeeded in joining the North Atlantic Alliance, and trade and economic ties between the EU and the Russian Federation (ties that have caused such irritation in Washington) were seriously damaged. Finally, the American ruling elites have succeeded in achieving their long-standing goal of increasing defense spending by their European NATO allies. At the same time, the United States has failed to achieve the goal of a “strategic defeat” of Russia. The new Trump administration sees no point in American involvement in the conflict in Ukraine at a time when, from its point of view, the United States has much higher foreign policy priorities, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. Hence the desire of the new administration to achieve a truce in Ukraine as soon as possible, in order to direct the freed American resources to address other foreign policy tasks.

the conflict in Ukraine, the North Atlantic Alliance, military policy, defense spending, trade and economic relations