As the continent clings to outdated illusions of dominance, the war in Ukraine has exposed decades of strategic miscalculations and betrayals. Now, with Washington shifting priorities and internal fractures deepening, Europe faces a stark choice: reclaim sovereignty or fade into irrelevance
The spectacle that unfolded in the Oval Office of the White House last week was nothing short of a geopolitical farce-Volodymyr Zelensky, once the West’s prized emissary of democracy, now reduced to a beleaguered supplicant before Donald Trump and his inner circle. The desperation in his voice was palpable as he attempted to navigate the most humiliating moment of his political career with forced composure. But Trump appeared to be sizing up the Ukrainian president for obsolescence, searching for a more pliable figure to serve American interests in Ukraine. The bitter irony of history plays out in cycles, and it seems Zelensky is now on the cusp of becoming the sacrificial lamb for the West’s mounting failures-much like past puppets discarded when their usefulness waned.
Yet this moment is more than just an embarrassing episode for Ukraine’s leader; it is emblematic of a much deeper malaise-a reckoning that Europe itself can no longer evade. The European continent, which for centuries positioned itself as the epicentre of enlightenment, democracy, and civilisation, is now teetering on the precipice of its catastrophic undoing. The Ukraine war, a conflict exacerbated by the very hands that claim to seek peace, is but a symptom of an existential crisis decades-if not centuries-in the making.
Europe’s ruling elite, basking in the illusions of their hegemonic past, have orchestrated betrayal after betrayal, not only against external powers but also against their long-term survival. The great deception played on the USSR, for instance, was a masterstroke in Western duplicity. The fall of the Soviet Union was not an organic collapse but a carefully engineered dismantling, with Europe-hand in hand with the United States and Britain-undermining Moscow’s geopolitical reach under the guise of partnership. Vladimir Putin himself, in his now-infamous 2007 Munich speech, laid bare the West’s treachery: “What happened to the assurances given by Western partners after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are these declarations today? No one even remembers them. But I will allow myself to remind this audience what was said. I would like to quote the speech of NATO General Secretary Mr Woerner in Brussels on 17 May 1990. He said: ‘The fact that we are ready not to place a NATO army outside of German territory gives the Soviet Union a firm security guarantee.’ Where are these guarantees?”
These assurances were nothing more than words on paper-meaningless in the grand chessboard of Western hegemony. NATO expanded, encircling Russia, reneging on every commitment, demonstrating that Europe had no intention of honouring its promises. The deliberate humiliation of Russia post-1991-the eastward march of NATO, the exploitation of Russian economic vulnerabilities under Western-advised ‘shock therapy’-was an act of strategic subjugation. And yet, in an extraordinary twist of fate, the very forces that dismantled the USSR are now engineering their disintegration.
History is rife with European fragmentation, political betrayal, and self-inflicted wounds. The Treaty of Versailles, a document intended to secure peace after the First World War, instead laid the foundation for the Second, as European powers-drunk on their perceived victory-imposed punitive measures that sowed the seeds of future destruction. The division of Germany, the appeasement of Hitler at Munich, and the Cold War partitions across the continent all serve as testaments to the European elite’s tendency to manufacture crises rather than resolve them.
The Napoleonic Wars saw Europe in constant flux, with alliances forged and broken in pursuit of hegemonic domination. The Concert of Europe, an attempt to stabilise the continent in the 19th century, ultimately disintegrated as imperial ambitions and nationalist movements undermined its very premise. European unity has historically been an illusion-punctuated by moments of cooperation swiftly followed by bitter enmities. And yet, despite this bloodstained history, modern European leaders refuse to acknowledge the destructive cycle they are perpetuating in Ukraine.
Europe, shackled by its servitude to American interests, blindly followed Washington into every geopolitical quagmire-be it in Iraq, Libya, Syria, or now Ukraine-without considering the long-term consequences. The current conflict in Ukraine is not an aberration; it is the logical culmination of decades of strategic miscalculations. The EU, by choosing to weaponise Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia rather than seeking diplomatic equilibrium, has sealed its fate. Instead of charting an independent course towards true strategic autonomy, Europe doubled down on its vassal status to the United States, believing that this alignment would ensure perpetual dominance. But as the tides shift-with Washington’s attention pivoting towards Asia and Trump poised to prioritise ‘America First’ over NATO’s European commitments-the continent is waking up to a grim reality: it has no viable future without a fundamental realignment.
The past century has been a cycle of European duplicity-not only against Russia but also against the Global South. Latin America, Africa, and Asia suffered under colonial plunder and economic subjugation, all dressed in the language of progress. The European elite, now feigning moral righteousness in Ukraine, were the very architects of untold misery across the world. France still holds African nations in a monetary stranglehold through the CFA franc, Britain continues to exert undue influence in its former colonies, and European financial institutions dictate the economic policies of entire regions. The same Europe that lectures Russia on sovereignty had no qualms about redrawing borders, toppling governments, and instigating wars to maintain its grasp on power.
But this project is now crumbling under its contradictions. The rise of multipolarity-with China, Russia, and the Global South forging alternative economic and political alliances-signals the twilight of Western supremacy. Europe, so accustomed to imposing its will on others, now finds itself adrift: incapable of self-reliance, bereft of true leadership, and, most damningly, out of time.
Macron’s recent overtures regarding European nuclear deterrence-an implicit admission that American security guarantees are no longer sacrosanct-reveal a bloc scrambling for existential answers. Yet even now, the European elite refuse to acknowledge their culpability in this crisis. Instead of introspection, they escalate their reckless adventurism, funnelling billions into Ukraine in a deluded attempt to ‘bleed Russia dry’-a strategy eerily reminiscent of Cold War-era hubris, but one that now imperils Europe itself.
As a result, inflation, energy crises, deindustrialisation, and mounting social unrest are becoming the new normal. The EU, having sanctioned itself into economic paralysis, is watching its industrial base erode while American corporations feast on the carcass of what was once the world’s most formidable economic bloc. Germany, the economic engine of Europe, is faltering under the weight of its self-imposed dependence on American diktats. The Franco-German axis-long heralded as the linchpin of European unity-is fracturing under competing interests. Southern Europe resents Northern Europe’s austerity, Eastern Europe is increasingly questioning Brussels’ authority, and Britain has already jumped ship.
This is Europe’s moment of reckoning. It must either embrace true emancipation-breaking free from the yoke of outdated political dominion, reconciling with Russia, and forging a future dictated by its sovereign interests-or continue its descent into irrelevance. The choice is stark. The EU can either learn from history or become its latest tragic casualty.
The lesson of the USSR should not be lost on Europe. Superpowers do not fall in a day-they rot from within, weakened by arrogance, strategic miscalculations, and a failure to adapt to shifting geopolitical realities. Europe stands at that precipice now. The only question that remains is whether it dares to step back before the abyss swallows it whole.
(The writer is a journalist and a policy analyst. Views expressed are personal)
