This article first appeared as the editorial of the 22 February 2025 issue of Unity, the weekly publication of the Irish Communist Party.
THE European Union and the whole Atlanticist movement has been left in total confusion by US President Trump’s bold decision to seek peace in Ukraine and to end the war which the EU has so enthusiastically endorsed.
While Trump signalled his intention to cut US losses during his election campaign, the warmongers hoped it was only talk. Now, they have to face the reality. Not only is Trump determined to end the Ukraine war – and accept terms that insist that Ukraine will not be a member of NATO and that the liberated territories of Russian speakers in the East will stay liberated – he has also made it clear that the pretension of European members of NATO are of no concern. The US has other fish to fry.
Trump is obviously not a black or white phenomenon. There are many things about him which repulse decent people – his misogyny, his racism, his contempt for the human rights of poor people, his grab for real estate in Gaza at the expense of the Palestinians, his claims on Greenland, Canada and Panama.
But his decision to try and end the terrible slaughter in Ukraine is a good one, as is his open recognition that Russia has legitimate security issues that need to be addressed.
It is incredibly ironic then that when Trump is calling on Russia and China to join with the US in a new nuclear reduction, the Europeans gathered in Munich bayed for more weapons, more war, more deaths.
How sobering for these cardboard warriors then when Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, made it clear that, if Europeans send their soldiers into Ukraine, they will not be able to invoke NATO’s Article Five (calling on all members to rally to a member under attack) if the Russians obliterate any forces they send there.
Zelensky, desperately fighting to keep his blood-stained hands on the military aid gravy train, calls for a European Army to take up the war, as Ukraine runs out of manpower to feed the fascist war machine.
The Europeans, however, are caught up with their own empty rhetoric. How can they now admit that the war was a terrible mistake, that Russia has won and that their sanctions policy has only devastated Europe’s economies, not Russia’s. Despite the militaristic mouthing, however, it is clear to rational people that, without US participation, Europe can achieve nothing. The costs of buying US arms to send to Ukraine to prolong a war destined no matter what to end in a Russian victory can only be met by cutting severely social welfare and state investment plans throughout Europe.
Ireland, too, is hoist with its own petard. The Irish establishment has been vociferous in its anti-Russia extremism, and is one of the most venomous in urging a continuation of the war.
Indeed, when Sabina Higgins, the President’s wife, urged that an effort be made to end the war and bring peace, the heavens fell down on her and she was abused from all sides. For those who want to tie Ireland closer into the Atlanticist option, peace is a dirty word.
But, no matter how the Atlanticists twist, peace is coming. Trump has turned his back on their pretensions and told them they’re on their own as he switches attention to America’s trade rivalry with China, perhaps hoping that he can split Russia from China as part of his Ukraine deal.
And talking of deals, the entrepreneurial president was seized the opportunity to demand that Ukraine hand over to the US the valuable rare earth minerals that lie beneath Ukraine’s surface.
The big problem, though, is that most of these minerals lie in what is now Russian territory, but the US still wants to grab whatever is left to Ukraine.
Micheál Martin has been forced to reject Zelensky’s call for a European Army, despite his continued insistence that Europe collectively need to increase defence expenditure (that is, buy more weapons of war).
Martin understands that the Irish people will not tolerate our young men and women being sent as cannon fodder in Ukraine.
But instead of reasserting Irish neutrality and offering Ireland as a venue for peace, he still wants to play the Atlanticist game and pepper his language with bogus claims of standing by Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Ukraine – and NATO – has lost. Time now to face that reality and end the killing.