It has been four months since the US, which on paper is an ally of Europe, attacked Iran unilaterally. Before that, we witnessed an attack on Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro was abducted like it was a random Tuesday, resulting in civilian casualties and reported use of experimental technology not seen in modern warfare for years. The total cost of the attack on Venezuela is estimated to be close to 3 billion dollars, all of which was funded by the American taxpayer, who barely has access to affordable healthcare or proper infrastructure and is now facing an economic crisis.

The US has a military budget close to 1 trillion dollars, which will soon turn to 1.5 trillion dollars if the new proposed bill takes place. Unfortunately, the War in Ukraine has been going on for four years now. Despite Ukraine’s continued resistance, strong advances, and its exposure of vulnerabilities within Russian military infrastructure, as well as the incompetence of its leadership, tens of thousands of lives have been lost. Homes, hospitals, and roads have been bombed, and countless people have been forced to flee their homes, seeking refuge and migrating elsewhere simply to survive.

Unfortunately, the President and the Vice President of the US pay more attention to the dress code and whether “thank you” has been expressed sufficiently or not, rather than the lives being lost. The Iran War has been devastating and is already causing problems for the West. Despite the European authorities condemning the attacks and actively trying their best to calm the situation, one thing remains clear - this war was nothing but the US’s betrayal of their core principles, of their allies, and of their sphere of influence.

The cost of American militarism on its allies

So far, close to 40 billion dollars has been spent on the Iran War. The Iran War has been prolonged for four months. The rate at which the US is spending its budget on the Iran War is estimated to be close to 1 billion dollars a day, which is much more than the US has spent in Ukraine. The technology that is being used in the Iran War, such as the newest AI targeting technology, is truly remarkable and one of a kind, yet the difference is clear: it is not provided to Ukraine nearly as much as it could, or should, be.

We must remember the start of 2025, when the Pentagon restricted arms delivery to Ukraine, which has greatly affected the state of the war. The concerns were that the US stockpiles were low, and the decision was made “to put America’s interests first”. All of the weapons halt, as well as the attitude that we have seen from the US - not to mention Donald Trump’s support towards Viktor Orbán and other pro-Russian forces - raises profound concerns for their allies as a whole.

The most important outcome that we have seen from the recent developments regarding Ukraine, Venezuela, and Iran is that Europe is more united than ever. Most of the EU is finally managing to stay on the same page and discuss its future safety, be it military, energy, or other forms of collective security. What is also important is that the UK is collaborating with the EU more often, sharing their messages, and aligning themselves with the status quo of the EU as a whole. With the recent shift towards a Breturn, it is increasingly likely that - if this sort of collaboration continues - it will come back to the European family.

America’s values have long stood on spreading democracy across the globe, be it with their foreign affairs, their “soft power," or other mechanisms. With the Trump administration, this is still its goal - at least on paper - but we are going back to and far beyond even a Kissinger-style spread of democracy, which involves war crimes, the destabilisation of nations, and many more atrocities. Closing down USAID, cancelling internship programs, and pushing out isolationist politics, as well as detaching oneself from democratic values with the introduction of ICE – a modern-day Gestapo - really puts things into perspective.

The last stand of democracy in an age of realpolitik

With all of the aforementioned arguments taken into consideration, the American priorities, though unclear, show us that they are no longer interested in maintaining global peace through peacekeeping or humanitarian aid programs, but are slowly turning into the same kind of totalitarian, isolationist, and invasive country as Russia. Comparing Biden and Trump and seeing how the Biden administration supported an aspiring democratic nation, offering more troops and aid, we used to see far greater resistance against Russia. A crucial ally has been betrayed in the name of realpolitik.

Ukraine is a nation which holds the most nutritious soil on the planet, which is one of its biggest exports as a country - not to mention neon mines that are crucial to the tech industry. It is vital for the production of not only phones and computers, but everyday necessities such as fridges, cars and buses. All of this is relevant because that is all the US sees at the moment: not a fellow, democratic nation, but a piggybank. The trade deal is not being upheld by the US properly either, and this speaks volumes about the administration’s intentions.

As a country that was once the beacon of democratic values, now treating its allies as transactional relationships - extracting resources while offering nothing but empty promises in return - we must call it what it is: exploitation dressed up in diplomatic language. What makes Ukraine’s situation all the more tragic is the resilience of its people. Despite years of bombardment, displacement, and political abandonment, Ukrainians continue to fight - not just for their territory, but for the idea that democracy is worth defending. That conviction, that moral clarity, is something that Washington seems to have misplaced entirely.

Europe’s awakening and the road to strategic autonomy

Meanwhile, the rest of the world watches. China takes notes, and Russia simply waits. Every day that Ukraine is left without proper support is a day of authoritarian regime growth, more confident than before. Regimes that can dismantle the international order piece by piece and can do so without any meaningful consequence. The message being sent is a dangerous one: borders are negotiable, sovereignty is optional, and democratic solidarity is nothing more than a bumper sticker slogan. The actions of the US are like taking pawns when they have a mate in three.

Europe, to its credit, has begun to understand this. The rearmament programs, the renewed discussions around European strategic autonomy, the quiet but steady shift away from dependence on American security guarantees - all of this points to a continent that is waking up to a new reality. A reality where Europe must be the guardian of its own values, because the partner it once relied upon has chosen a different path. The question that remains - the one that history will judge us by - is whether this awakening came in time.