Trump: Champion of Betrayal
Trump doesn't negotiate, he abandons Ukraine without demanding anything in return. He has destroyed the most important weapon in war: trust.
What levers does Volodymyr Zelensky have left to turn things in his favor?
For the time being, it's Trump and Putin together, and Zelensky is on the sidelines, just like the European Union. The American president sees this war as a transaction. For him, for example, Kursk is a piece of land that doesn't belong to him, so it must be returned to Russia. He talks about negotiations, but in reality, he's applying Putin's story word for word. What's even more cynical is that he justifies all this by saying, “This is what happens when you take on someone stronger than you.” It's mind-boggling to see an American president adopt such a posture against an ally who is supposed to be supported by the United States. He claims to be a champion of negotiation... Personally, I see a champion of betrayal.
Trump's America will protect neither Ukraine nor Europe. It's time for Europeans to take their security into their own hands. We have the military and financial means to do so, but our problem is political: we have 30 different armies and no unified command.
We need to build a real European defense. Today, we are 500 million Europeans asking 300 million Americans to defend us against 140 million Russians. It's absurd! Europe must stop being a mere spectator. Otherwise, we'll continue to be the menu at the geopolitical banquet, instead of being at the table.
Guillaume Ancel -- La Dépêche du Midi