Mandelson: Impotent Europe has to face reality
Lord Mandelson has accused Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders of a “histrionic” reaction to President Trump’s plans to take over Greenland, saying that it exemplified their “growing geopolitical impotence”.
In his first public intervention since being sacked as Britain’s ambassador to Washington last year, Mandelson praised Trump’s “decisive” to capture Nicolás Maduro and said European leaders had still not adjusted to the “revolution under way” in Washington.
His comments will be seen as a rebuke to Starmer who has failed to endorse Trump’s move to change the regime in Caracas and joined other European leaders in calling on Trump to respect Danish sovereignty over Greenland. “Europe’s growing geopolitical impotence in the world is becoming the issue now, and histrionics about Greenland is confirming this brutal reality,” Mandelson wrote in an article for The Spectator.
“I had a ringside seat as the Trump administration made sense of this world and how it is changing America’s outlook and global role. I am afraid I don’t think, even now, that European leaders have adjusted to the revolution under way.
Europe is transfixed by the Truth Socials coming out of the White House but without following the arguments underpinning them.
“They would do better to ask themselves why the US is making an adjustment and how they, as America’s allies, can mitigate its consequences and offset the transfer of American resources elsewhere.”
Mandelson said, despite suggestions by the White House, Trump would not use force to take over Greenland but the US would be given more military influence over the territory.
“What will happen is that the threats to Arctic security posed by China and Russia will crystallise in European minds, performative statements about ‘sovereignty’ and Nato’s future will fade, and serious discussion will take over,” he added.
“Together, the US, Denmark and other allies will address how the Arctic region is properly secured with a considerably beefed-up role and status and military deployment by America.”
Mandelson added that in other areas, Europe needed to respond to the new world era of Trump and stop “piggybacking” on the US and start assuming its “full military and financial responsibilities beyond fine words”. He said: “Presently, Europe’s consideration of the hard military power and reliable diplomatic muscle it needs to bring to the table is being masked by outpourings about a sheriff president who does not follow conventional practice or a traditional diplomatic rulebook.”
Mandelson said European leaders will have to accept “Trump’s decisive approach when faced with real-world situations is preferable to the handwringing and analysis paralysis that has characterised some previous US administrations” or prevarication from the UN and EU.
Comments
Post a Comment