With the Trump administration pulling back support for Ukraine, CBC’s Terence McKenna examines Europe’s scramble to step up as its main defender against Russia and whether European nations could ever fully replace America’s military and diplomatic power.
00:00 America's long-standing solidarity with Europe
00:50 The Trump-Zelenskyy meeting when that changed
03:39 How much military aid the U.S. actually gives Ukraine
05:14 Casting doubt on NATO's Article 5 defence pact
06:48 Assembling a new 'coalition of the willing'
07:53 Can Europe replace the U.S. as Ukraine's main defender?
08:55 At stake with a new Trump-Putin axis
#news #ukrainewar #history
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00:00 America's long-standing solidarity with Europe
00:50 The Trump-Zelenskyy meeting when that changed
03:39 How much military aid the U.S. actually gives Ukraine
05:14 Casting doubt on NATO's Article 5 defence pact
06:48 Assembling a new 'coalition of the willing'
07:53 Can Europe replace the U.S. as Ukraine's main defender?
08:55 At stake with a new Trump-Putin axis
#news #ukrainewar #history
Watch The National live on YouTube starting at 9 p.m. ET
Subscribe to The National:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCTheNational?sub_confirmation=1
More from CBC News | https://www.cbc.ca/news
The National is the flagship of CBC News, showcasing award-winning journalism from across Canada and around the world. Led by Chief Correspondent Adrienne Arsenault and Ian Hanomansing, our team of trusted reporters helps you make sense of the world, wherever you are.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.
00:11In 1963, Democratic President John F. Kennedy gave voice to America's long-standing commitment
00:17to solidarity with Europe when he proclaimed himself a citizen of Free Berlin.
00:31That commitment to Europe was shared across generations and across party lines, as Republican
00:36Ronald Reagan demonstrated in his challenge to the Soviet leader at the Berlin Wall in
00:411987.
00:42Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.
00:48Russia, Russia, Russia, you ever hear of that deal?
00:52You don't have the cards.
00:53This was the moment that seemed to break the relationship between the U.S. government and
00:57its European allies.
00:59Donald Trump's humiliation and bullying of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stunned
01:04the Western world, and the reaction in Europe was intense.
01:08Can Ukraine win the war without America, Mr. President?
01:12Two days later, Zelenskyy was given a hero's welcome in London, followed by a summit in
01:16which he was embraced by European leaders and Canada's Justin Trudeau.
01:24Europe's sense of loss is expressed by former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielis Landsbergis.
01:31For decades, all the countries under oppression, all the journalists under pressure, all the
01:38minority groups around the world, they were looking into the U.S. as the land of the free,
01:44actually where the support will always come from and feel understood if you're fighting
01:49for freedom.
01:52I think that this is actually the biggest shock, that this is no more.
01:57Analyst Sarah Pagan grew up in a Germany that felt it was under the protection of the U.S.
02:02I think it's really like a watershed moment to see that this is something that is crumbling
02:09and falling apart in the form as we have known it.
02:14And it's kind of like, I think we're really entering a new era, and it's an era that I'm
02:21convinced is less secure for all of Europe.
02:29U.S. General Philip Breedlove spent most of his military career in Europe.
02:33He served as a Supreme Allied Commander there.
02:36Now retired, he keeps in close contact with many European friends.
02:41What they always said to me was that the United States is the backbone without which NATO
02:48would really have a hard time functioning, and that America represented that last stand
02:56of defense on what we call Western values.
03:03Zelensky's White House meeting was clearly on the mind of French President Emmanuel Macron
03:07on his dramatic TV address to the French nation shortly after.
03:11He expressed the worry that the U.S. was switching sides in the Ukraine war.
03:15And I want to believe that the United States will remain on our side.
03:19But we must be ready if that is not the case.
03:24I think that he's stepping into the shoes of European leader, because at least at this
03:29point there's nobody else.
03:31We have to get, you know, to get moving and do our thing, rather than you just be observers
03:36of, you know, the whole situation in Washington.
03:39$350 billion, we gave you military equipment.
03:43A key reason for Trump's break with his allies is his oft-repeated lie that the U.S. has
03:49given Ukraine far more economic and military aid than the Europeans.
03:54What are the facts?
03:56The actual figures have been totaled up by the non-partisan Kiel Institute in Germany.
04:01If you look at all government support to Ukraine from 2022 through 2024, the United States
04:07has provided 114.2 billion euros, while the European countries provided 132.3 billion.
04:18Emmanuel Macron tried to gently correct Trump on this point in his own Oval Office meeting
04:23days before Zelensky arrived there.
04:25In fact, to be frank, we paid 60% of the total default.
04:31At almost every appearance since, Trump returned to his favorite false figure.
04:36$350 billion.
04:39$350 billion.
04:41Let's hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
04:46The incoming German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has long been seen as one of the most
04:50pro-American of European politicians, but he just called for Europe to achieve independence
04:55from the United States.
04:57He also promised a $500 billion German military buildup, while the other EU members will push
05:03for $800 billion.
05:06Anything that Europe does to make itself better at defending itself will help our alliance.
05:16Article 5 is the heart of the NATO treaty that requires nations to come to the aid of
05:20any member in the event of a foreign attack, just as Canada and other NATO members joined
05:26the U.S. in the Afghanistan war after 9-11.
05:30Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the U.S. willingness to honor the Article
05:345 commitment.
05:35Well, I've said that to them.
05:37I said, if you're not going to pay, we're not going to defend.
05:40Analyst Ian Bremmer is founder of the Eurasia Group.
05:44The political alignment of NATO has taken a very serious hit over the last 50 plus days
05:52since Trump has been inaugurated.
05:54The U.S. is prepared to act unilaterally and is prepared to openly question, at least in
06:00some circumstances, its Article 5 commitments to other countries.
06:05That of course makes NATO weaker.
06:08I think we're at a point where it's not really clear anymore if the U.S. would really be
06:12willing to use its military instruments to, let's say, protect Tallinn or Warsaw or Berlin.
06:22Do you believe the U.S. would come to the aid of Lithuania if it was attacked?
06:27Well, it's not important what I feel, but it's important what Putin thinks.
06:37And Putin has gotten quite a lot of proof that U.S. commitment to Europe is not as strong
06:47as it has been.
06:50One of the key aspects of European defense is the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
06:55Many European countries agreed not to obtain nuclear weapons in exchange for a U.S. guarantee
07:01that they would be protected by American nukes.
07:04Now they are beginning to doubt that guarantee.
07:08France has always maintained its own nuclear forces.
07:11And now Frédéric Merz has asked that the French extend their umbrella over the rest
07:15of Europe and offered to help pay for that.
07:20Macron quickly agreed.
07:24He and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer have been methodically assembling a coalition
07:28of the willing to come to Ukraine's assistance in light of backpedaling from the United States.
07:35They have announced that both countries are prepared to deploy troops to provide security
07:40guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, but have asked the United States to back up
07:46those troops with logistics and intelligence support.
07:49To ensure that this deal is something which is not violated.
07:52I guess the point is, is it possible that Europe could replace the U.S. as the main
07:57defender of Ukraine?
08:00Replace implies that everything the Americans have been doing that the Europeans would be
08:05able to do at the same level.
08:06And the answer to that is no, without unacceptable risk.
08:09Could the Europeans by themselves without the U.S. deter the Russians from further incursions
08:16into Ukraine?
08:17There, I think the answer is quite possibly.
08:21General Breedlove believes that Europeans will need U.S. help to provide security guarantees
08:26for Ukraine.
08:28What America will have to bring is those things we often call enablers.
08:33The air dimension, the long range intelligence and strike missions, the nuclear mission to
08:44give background to England and France.
08:48And America is going to be required to do that for some time.
08:57Almost exactly 80 years ago, the three great powers met in Yalta, Crimea to divide up the
09:03post-war world.
09:05What Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin agreed then had profound consequences, especially
09:11for the Eastern European countries that were left under Soviet domination for generations.
09:18As Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin enter into negotiations over Ukraine and the security
09:24structure of Europe, with the Europeans on the sidelines, what is at stake this time?
09:30At stake is not just the future of Ukraine, but whether or not NATO is going to continue
09:37to be a robust collective security agreement, what the nature of the European relationship
09:43with the United States will be.
09:45The centrality of Ukraine cannot be overstated.
09:50We're all have a stake in this.
09:53If Ukraine is forced to capitulate, then it's an incredibly dangerous historic period.