Europe Is Looking Unimportant In US-Russia Peace Negotiations

Top U.S. officials arrived in Saudi Arabia for the most high-profile talks with Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, as the Trump administration’s push for bilateral discussions with the Kremlin triggered unease in Kyiv and among European leaders.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national-security advisor Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff came to Riyadh Monday to start negotiations. They have begun negotiations with Russia about ending their war on Ukraine, without including European leaders.

This has thrown many European leaders into crisis mode. Europe’s main military powers are now scrambling to reclaim a seat at the negotiating table. French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency meeting with other European leaders on Monday, after a 20 minute call with President Trump.

In their meeting, the European leaders discussed possible courses of action, as well as a supposed plan to increase their cooperation and military strength. Unsurprisingly, even that conversation found that they needed the United States.

In fact, shortly after the meeting, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer demanded that the US provide a security backstop to deter Russia, as part of a possible peace deal. Said Starmer: “a US security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”

Mr Starmer also claimed that Europe would work towards increasing their security spending. But as we have seen, the US has always been the guarantor and the leading factor in Ukraine’s continued resistance against Russia.

In response to the Trump administration calling out the Europeans on their free riding, and Vice President Vance’s excoriating remarks about Europe’s censorship problem many red-faced Europeans have claimed that they can band together and fight of Russia without the US. That they can go it without the US.

Of course, beyond the fact that without US military support, Ukraine would have capitulated in 2022, and Europe would have been in crisis, Mr Starmer’s words have disabused the Europeans who claim they can provide their own security without the US of any such delusions.

For centuries, Western Europe was the epicenter of global geopolitics and power. They controlled the tempo, made the decisions, and always had not just a seat, but the seat at the big table.

The US and Russia’s negotiations starting without any European input is not one of he causes, but simply an effect of the continent’s continued diminishing influence. The US is setting its sights on China and the Asian Pacific region, and when the US does engage with Europe, Western European voices are becoming less and less relevant.

It may be difficult for Western Europeans to accept, but this new reality is not only not going away, but accelerating. Our friends on the other side of the Atlantic can still have a voice and work with us, but they need to recognize where they are in terms of geopolitical power, and act accordingly.