The U.S. has quietly told Europe it won’t fight on its behalf again

It went largely unnoticed, but Washington’s refusal to let MiG fighter jets destined for the Ukrainians take off from their base in Germany is a clear message, according to a retired French general: Even if a NATO country is attacked, the U.S. will never send their soldiers to fight on our soil.

With its back to the wall, America’s mask has come off. This great nation, which 80 years ago stood at the height of its moral strength, which claims to be the bulwark of freedom and democracy, has lowered its head in the face of the challenge. …

The facts no longer have room for ambiguity. Faced with the difficulties of the Ukrainian forces, Washington urged, from the very first week, the NATO countries capable of doing so should reinforce Ukraine with their MiG29s: Ukrainian pilots were capable of using them, unlike Western aircrafts, which would require too much pilot training to master them. In compensation, the Americans proposed, the willing countries will receive more modern F16s.

Putin immediately seized this great opportunity to decouple Europe and the United States: He declared that any country whose MiGs took off towards the Ukrainian sky should in fact become a belligerent. The threat is clear: that of a flight of Russian missiles successfully tested in Syria.

In the event of conflict, Europe will remain alone 

The Polish president, who volunteered to donate MiGs, agreed to take the risk but not alone: If, by donating his planes, he enters the war, then so must NATO — and therefore, the United States. He proposed that his MiGs take off not from Poland but from the U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany, which would make the United States a de facto co-belligerent.

It clarifies the situation: in this existential crisis, Europe is alone and will remain so.

So Washington – which, for ages, has vowed to the Europeans in NATO that it would fight for them – backs down. The American duplicity appears clearly: These planes, declared useful yesterday if they took off from Poland, suddenly no longer “change the balance of power significantly” if they take off from an American base!

Words and weapons, yes; words and deeds, no. …

Let us prepare, without any illusion about the American defense “umbrella.” Let us quickly regain our military autonomy and European sovereignty. Let us be the powerful and peaceful geopolitical actor that world peace needs. Our security requires that we become the second solid pillar of the so-called “West,” ready to make hard decisions.