Donald Trump has done Europe a favor. During a press conference last week, the president blamed Ukraine for triggering Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of its territory, and for having the temerity to continue fighting a Russian army bent on wiping out Ukrainian national identity. Trump had previously noted that Russia has lost a lot of soldiers in the invasion, as if that gives Moscow’s army a right of conquest over the parts of Ukraine that it seized. He paid no heed to the massive number of war crimes that Russia committed along the way.

In doing all this, Trump was disabusing European democracies of the illusion, widely held among such countries’ leaders, that the United States was a reliable defender of freedom on the continent and could be trusted in a crisis. In the days before his anti-Ukrainian rant, Trump’s defense secretary said that the U.S. will reduce its military footprint in Europe, his vice president promoted the cause of pro-Putin far-right parties in Europe, and his Ukraine envoy pushed a plan for elections on Ukraine that mirrored Kremlin thinking.

In short, Trump is with Putin far more than he is with Europe’s democracies.

[Anne Applebaum: The end of the postwar world]

Perhaps this realization will lead Europe to act in its own interests in a way that it so far has found impossible to do. Relying on the United States has infantilized European states, to the point that until now they seemed incapable of thinking, let alone acting, on their own behalf. Europe must immediately start looking out for itself, because it can no longer depend on Washington as a defense partner or even a good friend. Adapting to this new reality will require a level of effort that Europe has not shown for decades.

The first thing European states must do is replace U.S. military and economic support for Kyiv. Ukrainian victory, including the survival of Ukrainian democracy and the defense of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, is vital to the future security of Europe. But European states have meekly allowed the U.S. to steer the war in disastrous directions. First, President Joe Biden, despite supporting Ukraine’s defense, gave in to Russian nuclear threats and withheld potentially decisive Western weapons systems at crucial junctures. Now his successor has switched sides and taken Russia’s position.

Although Europe as a whole has supplied more aid, the U.S. has provided far more than any single European country. That assistance has included a great deal of the world’s most powerful and effective military equipment. Europe cannot hope to replicate American strength in military technology. Europe itself is a consumer of the American-developed Patriot air-defense systems that Ukraine has been using. If the United States stops supplying 155-millimeter artillery shells, or the cannon barrels through which they are fired, Europe may not be able to provide anything close to the necessary quantities.

But although European states can’t just build lots of Patriot missiles and other essential American-made equipment, they can do more to provide what Ukraine needs to fight in the coming year. They can dig deeper into their own stocks; supply European weapons systems, such as German-made Taurus cruise missiles, that they have heretofore denied the Ukrainians; and even use seized Russian financial assets to purchase weapons from around the world. They can also speed up cooperation and financial support for Ukraine’s own unmanned-aerial-vehicle industry. This will both help Ukraine and significantly improve the UAV capacity of European states in the future. The Ukraine war is the greatest drone-technology laboratory that the world has yet seen.

More cooperation with Ukraine on drones should also help European countries develop their own military-production capabilities. Taken together, these democracies are among the world’s biggest spenders on military procurement. In 2024, EU states alone spent more than 320 billion euros on defense. However, this large sum was terribly spent. It yielded wild duplication of frontline weapons systems and relatively little investment in better logistics, maintenance, and supply replenishment. European governments should establish a common production system that adopts fewer designs for vehicles and equipment but produces many more of each model.

[Phillips Payson O’Brien: A wider war has already started in Europe]

Furthermore, Europeans will almost certainly have to arrange for their own nuclear weapons. Since World War II, the Western democracies have been under the U.S. nuclear shield. Without reliable American protection, all of democratic Europe would have to rely on the small British and French nuclear forces to deter a much larger Russian arsenal. A further problem is that the British and French forces are partly based on U.S.-supplied technology.

To protect against Russian nuclear blackmail without help from Washington, Europe would need a crash nuclear-weapons program and to develop a command structure that would reassure all of the continent’s democracies that they are protected by those weapons. This is no easy task. Europe has the technological capacity now to build nuclear warheads but would need to develop its own intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and other delivery systems. And it would have to do all of this quickly.

To take the necessary steps—bolstering Ukraine, building up European military production, and devising a nuclear deterrent separate from America’s—Europe will need to do one more thing: create a political structure to help guide this process. Both NATO and the EU would likely be hamstrung by pro-Putin fifth columnists in Hungary and Slovakia. Another problem for the EU is that it doesn’t include the United Kingdom, one of Europe’s major military powers.

Europe should create its own strong military alliance, one that draws on the existing assets of NATO members, with the exception of the U.S., Hungary, and Slovakia. Turkey and Canada, too, could be invited to join the new European version of NATO. This organization would need teeth, including an entirely new military-command structure and the ability to help European states rationalize their weapons production. It would also have to be able to ruthlessly purge pro-Putin member states from its ranks in the future. It would use European resources to prepare to fight wars and protect European freedoms.

What the past few years have shown is that European self-infantilization has probably hastened the continent’s decline relative to the rest of the world. While the U.S. has powered ahead in technology, Europe has lagged behind. A new, emboldened Europe, looking after itself and spending its own money to invest in high-tech defense industries, could also kick-start the continent’s revitalization.

Moreover, it could provide the world with hope that democracy will not be extinguished. The United States now is on some strange, dark journey. The future of freedom in America is uncertain when the president lavishly praises dictators and fulminates against legitimately elected leaders. Europe can show the world that democratic states can, if pushed, still rally to protect themselves.

Thousands of anti-government protesters commemorate the seventh anniversary of the killings of an investigative journalist and his fiancée in Slovakia.

The Slovak prime minister's parliamentary majority came under threat when several lawmakers defected from their posts.

Large crowds call for Fico to resign after visit to Moscow.

Massive turnout in nationwide rallies, as Fico brandishes intel report alleging 'coup d’etat' in league with foreigners.

Tens of thousands come onto the streets, as Robert Fico threatens to deport foreigners he says are fomenting a coup.

Student detained after two people killed in school stabbing in Slovakia

A dispute between Slovakia and Ukraine over Russian natural gas transit has been escalating.