THE USA HAS CHOSEN A SIDE: TIME TO CUT THE CORD

DISCLAIMER: all opinions in this article reflect solely the views of the author, not the position of Stand Up For Europe.

By Drakoulis Goudis

21/02/2025

The United States are since last month, and will be for the foreseeable future, an ally of Russia.

This simple fact, clear enough for a primary school student to grasp, is proving too bitter a pill for many European citizens and political leaders to swallow. In just the last week, Donald Trump, JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, and Elon Musk have made it blatantly clear—through public statements, tweets, and sheer bombast—that their newly installed regime views Europe with contempt and hostility while openly admiring Russia’s political and societal model.

None of this should come as a surprise. The tech oligarchs who seized power in November are trying to replicate Russia’s 1990s playbook: some, like Peter Thiel, seek to rule from the shadows, while others, like Elon Musk, crave the spotlight. They despise democracy, consider themselves a superior species, and many of them worship pseudo-philosopher Curtis Yarvin—an unhinged ideologue who not only champions Russia against the so-called “dangerous revolutionary ideas” of Europe but also fantasizes about a world run by CEOs.

Their interpretation of “free speech” is equally revealing. As Musk and Vance have made clear, it means the freedom to spew Nazi ideology, the freedom to be racist, the freedom to hate minorities, the freedom to advocate white supremacy and patriarchal domination. But disagree with the “dear leader,” and suddenly, the concept vanishes—now you’re threatened with prosecution, imprisonment, or worse. Musk, the de facto ruler of the United States, has already provided ample demonstrations of this principle.

If parts of this new America seem eerily familiar, call them by their name: Nazi ideas. With Musk as their standard-bearer, fascists now have a direct line to the White House—and they are shaping U.S. policy accordingly.

Domestically, we’ve barely seen the tip of the iceberg. The coming crackdown will target trans people, immigrants, women, Black people, anyone who refuses to use Trump’s preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico, and an ever-expanding list of “enemies.”

In foreign policy, Trump’s mafia-style approach—where international relations resemble a blackmail and extortion racket—means Washington is more at home dealing with dictatorships than with liberal democracies. The United States has made its objectives crystal clear: cede Ukrainian territory to Russia, remove Zelenskyy from power, block Ukraine’s NATO accession , install fascist governments in Germany, the UK, and Romania, loot Ukraine’s mineral wealth, divide the Arctic with Russia, annex Greenland  (and Canada, and Panama), and turn Gaza into a Trump Hotel resort.

At this point, only the willfully blind can pretend that the U.S. and Europe remain allies.

And yet, many European leaders cling to this delusion. Listen to them, and you’ll hear frantic denials that the transatlantic relationship is broken—echoing from London to the Baltics. Amid occasional acknowledgments of the new reality (which was a long time coming), they continue to parrot the fantasy that EU and U.S. interests remain aligned, and that cooperation will somehow endure.

Are they truly that naïve?

Of course not. They’re afraid of their voters.

Many citizens refuse to accept reality. Some still cling to the outdated belief in an “American security umbrella,” even if it means kneeling before Trump and Musk rather than securing their own future alongside their European allies. Others care only about the financial cost. Decoupling from the U.S. and forging an independent European defense is expensive—and European voters, time and again, have proven themselves immature and short-sighted, panicking at any increase in the cost of living. Instead of facing the hard choices necessary for sovereignty, they flock to far-right, Russia-backed parties promising economic relief for the “working man,” indifferent to the real price: the death of democracy, European values, and even national independence. So far, European leaders fail to convince them otherwise. As Jean-Claude Juncker put it: “We all know what to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected once we have done it.”

And now?

Europe’s path forward will be decided in the coming months—perhaps even weeks—in Ukraine. The U.S. is trying to strong-arm Kyiv into accepting a humiliating deal: a mafia-style ultimatum of “take it, or we cut off all weapons and lift sanctions on Russia.” Zelenskyy, of course, refuses to surrender his country’s future, but he needs an alternative—a way to keep Ukraine in the fight. This is where the EU (along with the UK, Canada, and Norway) must step in.

Ukraine needs funding and weaponry, and it needs them now—not in three years. If European leaders can move fast and decisively enough to supply Ukraine with the means to resist, then the Molotov-Ribbentrop-inspired schemes hatched by the new Axis of Authoritarianism in Riyadh will be relegated to the dustbin of history. More than that, Europe will send a resounding message of defiance to the narcissistic neofascists across the Atlantic. But most importantly, Ukraine will survive as an independent nation.

We’ve seen both encouraging and discouraging signs. The fact that Emmanuel Macron organized a high-level summit in Paris without invoking the official EU Council procedure is a good sign—it sidesteps the veto power of Hungary and Slovakia’s traitorous governments and removes the paralysis of unanimity. Any country that disagrees can simply opt out. A “coalition of the willing” is the only viable path forward; the current EU treaties handcuff institutional foreign policy and military action. The push for a new multi-billion-euro funding package for Ukraine and European defense is another positive step, as is the accelerated rollout of the Clean Industrial Deal—creating an economic climate that benefits liberal democracy rather than feeding far-right populism.

But the warning signs remain. The same tired, petty arguments about “escalation,” peacekeeping forces, debt brakes for defense, joint borrowing, and whether European rearmament should prioritize European-manufactured weapons continue to bog down decision-making. National interests, historical prejudices, and bureaucratic inertia still prevent Europe from acting with the speed and decisiveness the moment demands. Even more concerning are statements from officials in Poland, Italy, and the UK (among others) who still cling to the fantasy of American cooperation. We can only hope that some of these remarks are mere domestic posturing and do not reflect the real discussions happening behind closed doors in Paris.

Europe’s toxic dependency on the United States must end. We are not some 1960s Latin American country, where the CIA (ironically replaced by Twitter and TikTok nowadays) could install a puppet government at will—no matter what Elon Musk thinks. Ukraine in 2025 is not Czechoslovakia in 1938. When history calls, Europe must rise to the occasion. And it’s calling right now.