CNN
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The United States isn’t the only country with a former TV star president who knows how to put on a show.
Consider this rebuke to NATO countries on Tuesday.
“All European countries need to spend as much aggressively on security as is truly necessary, not just the amount they have become accustomed to after years of neglect. If it takes 5% of GDP to pay for defense, , that’s fine, 5% is.”
This may sound like Donald Trump, but it’s not.
The demand for Europe comes from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a former Trump opponent, and is a sign of how the new US president is already upending the situation around the world.
Speaking to European elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Zelenskiy criticized the many European countries that have contributed to Ukraine’s survival since the Russian invasion, urging them to take their own defense and the threat from Russia seriously enough. He reprimanded countries that did not.
So what was he doing?
Mr. Zelensky clearly observed Mr. Trump’s press conference on Monday, where he doubled down on demands for NATO members to raise their defense spending target from 2% of GDP to 5%. (This is nearly impossible for most countries in low-growth Europe to achieve, but it could be a start.) The new president also signaled that President Zelenskiy was open to a peace deal, and, interestingly, that Russia He also mentioned that he started trolling the president. President Vladimir Putin talks a little about his stance before the summit. President Trump said Putin was “not doing a very good job” in Ukraine and said the war should end because it was “destroying Russia.”
Ukraine’s president has been one of the most nimble foreign leaders in adapting to the world represented by Trump’s return to office. “Most people in the world are now wondering what our relationship with the United States will be,” Zelenskiy said at Davos. “What about alliances? How to support them? How to make deals? How does President Trump plan to end the war?”
Zelenskiy is smart to curry favor with President Trump. Because securing the best conditions for the country will require shaping the U.S. president’s push to end the war. No doubt President Trump would approve of tongue-lashing Europeans.
But Mr. Zelensky is cruel to be kind, especially to himself.
A peace deal with Putin would require security, which could require the costly deployment of European NATO troops to Ukrainian territory. And Ukrainians have learned something that many countries on the continent still prefer to ignore. Russia’s invasion signals the presence of a new belligerent threat in the East and the need for a stronger Western defense posture. And now that Trump is back in the White House, there’s no guarantee America will stick around.
“Will President Trump focus on Europe? Does he think NATO is necessary? And will he respect the institutions of the European Union?” Zelenskiy said. Moreover, “Will President Trump listen to Europe or will he negotiate with Russia and China without Europe?” You need to learn how to manage. ”
This message from a country aspiring to join the EU is not one that will be particularly well received in Brussels, especially given the significant military and diplomatic support Europe has provided Kyiv over the past three years. But it comes as French President Emmanuel Macron frequently calls on Europe to step up national security, even as his government barely meets the NATO standard of 2% spending. It’s not that different from being there.
President Zelenskiy’s true intentions became clear when he said: “At the moment it is not even clear whether Europe will be at the table when the war against our country ends.”
Ukraine really needs a strong and united Europe, as President Trump may be tempted to give Putin whatever he wants just to end the war. After all, the 47th president has long coveted the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Mr. Zelensky is trying to energize Europe, and I think Europe needs that,” Beth Sanner, a former senior U.S. intelligence official, told CNN.
