Aversion to Zelensky, hostility towards the EU and NATO... Donald Trump's great alliance reversal in favour of Russia

Donald Trump did not end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours as he had promised. On the other hand, he managed in almost the same time to upset the international order with a strategic about-face towards Russia, stunning his allies and his adversaries alike. Blaming Ukraine as if it had been responsible for the Russian invasion, calling its president Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator before demanding a refund in kind for the military aid provided by his country, Trump has practically joined the camp of Ukraine's adversaries, by coming closer to Putin's theses, by endorsing his demands for a neutralized Ukraine, and without calling into question his territorial conquests.

This sudden alignment of the American president with a revisionist power determined to overthrow the world order has dealt a blow to the strategic edifice built by his predecessors since 1945, and which had contributed to the prosperity and prestige of the United States.

American foreign policy tends to be quite volatile, partly because of the democratic shifts that sometimes occur from one administration to the next.

Sean McMeekin Professor of European History

Without conflict…

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