EditEurope’s opportunity to lead: securing victory in Ukraine
Europe can again lead the world towards the light – can become what America was for the longest time, “the shining city on a hill”
Europe must decisively and urgently rally its resources to halt and overcome Russia on Ukraine’s battlefields, asserts Evgenii Dainov.
Evgenii Dainov is a Bulgarian academic, author and political commentator.
Donald Trump is obviously hell-bent on destroying the very foundations of what Georgia Meloni referred to as “Western civilization” while sitting, visibly on edge, in his awesomely vulgar, fearsomely gold-plated Oval Office.
For all his glowing references to America’s Gilded Age, Trump’s aim is not a return to the end of the 19th century. His real aim, possibly lifted from East European neo-fascist thinking over the past decade, is to return to the time before the Enlightenment: hierarchy in place of equality, fear in place of trust, obedience in place of freedom, might in place of right.
His onslaught is a terrible spectacle, given the USA’s power and clout. And yet this is, also, Europe’s hour – if she can make wise use of it.
Everything that Donald Trump is tearing down – everything that made America great and, indeed, “shining” – has its origins in Europe. The Founding Fathers made free use of John Locke’s concept of the social contract. Equal chances for all and vigilance against privilege came to the USA from the English non-conformists. Individual rights and rule of law also came from England, while the long American fascination with freedom was an import (tariff-free) from France. The joyful embrace of science and progress was also a gift from the Europeans.
Such attitudes and institutions underpin the modern world and its promise of (in Winston Churchill’s words) “a wider and less harassed life … afforded to the masses of the people”. Born in Europe, these attitudes and their attendant values spread triumphantly around the world for a number of generations. From time to time, they would come across stiff resistance from rulers who were not in the least interested in a wider and less harassed life for their own masses. There have been times these values were pinned to the ropes, defending themselves against the incoming tide of darkness; in this, the USA’s support was of crucial import both against fascism and, later, communism. This time, the resistance against modernity again arose from the satrapies of the East. Unlike all previous times, however, this time America has aligned with the forces of darkness.
This is a crisis and, as most crises, it is also an opportunity. Europe has refused to slide back into the Dark Ages; modernity is coming home.
This is the time when Europe can again lead the world towards the light – can become what America was for the longest time, “the shining city on a hill”. Recovering its self-confidence, as it seems to be doing after generations of reliance on the Americans, Europe is quite capable – should it really want to – of handling the challenges coming in from both the untamed East and the transatlantic West.
So far, the signs are encouraging. Unlike 1938, all of Europe (barring the odd Orban) is fully aware that appeasement of dictators will not work. Unlike 1938, most of Europe is democratic and united in terms of values and institutional frameworks. Unlike the past several generations, Europe’s leaders have been facing the various recent crises in a decisive and resolute manner.
It has, of course, a fight on two fronts. To the East, an aggressively expansionist dictator wants to take over Ukraine as a prelude to taking back other ex-Soviet territories, as well as establishing decisive influence over the ex-Warsaw Pact countries, now inside NATO and the EU. To the West, a petulant man-child desperately wants to be a dictator in his own right and is undermining Europe’s security, economy and values.
In order to overcome, Europe needs to implement the battle cry of the anti-Trump opposition in the USA: “organize and mobilize”. As regards the threat from the East, the “organizing” phase seems to be largely done by now, with the UK back in the role of heading Europe’s united military and security effort, and with the “coalition of the willing” overcoming traditional EU inertia and indecisiveness.
What remains to be done is to mobilize – resolutely, without prevarication or hesitation – the necessary resources to stop and defeat Russia on the battlefields of Ukraine. Europe can do this and has done it before. Its economy, if one includes the likes of the UK and Switzerland, is at least 15 times bigger than Russia’s. This is an awesome power that can be channeled toward security and defence. The historical experience is available: during the Second World War, the most mobilized country was the UK, way more mobilized and better organized than totalitarian Germany and USSR which, on the face of it, should have been able to do the job more efficiently than any democracy.
As regards the risks coming from the USA, Europe needs to take fully on board what Mark Carney has been telling the Canadians for months now: the old world is over; the USA is no longer our friend, nor a reliable ally; and should not be counted on. Fully understanding this will help Europe both organize and mobilize better and with greater effect. Armed with such an understanding, European leaders would be able, not least, to out-manoeuvre Donald Trump, whose rudimentary view of the world is a weakness rather than a strength.
Struggling on two fronts does not mean, however, that Europe is “alone”, as Ursula von der Leyen has recently mis-spoken. As the values and attitudes of decency return home to Europe, the Old World is automatically turning into a leader of everyone who treasures modernity. Canada and Australia are already members of the various Europe-centered coalitions of the willing. Once realizing the leadership role that has descended upon it, Europe should be able to take the lead in the way the USA was able to do between 1945 and 2025. It would then be Russia and the USA who will turn out to be “alone”.
And, who knows, maybe with Europe in the lead, the peoples of both Russia and America may decide to join in, rather than stay in the outer darkness, where there is great wailing and a gnashing of teeth.
Updated: April 29, 2025 - 07:11
