16:40 14-01-2026

Ishchenko: Europe Gave Up to USA and Now Faces Breakup

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Rostislav Ishchenko says Europe surrendered to the US in the 1990s by choosing NATO, leaving its armies dependent on Washington and the EU facing reform or breakup.

Political analyst Rostislav Ishchenko shared his view on Europe’s future and said Europe long ago and voluntarily surrendered itself to the United States.

According to Ishchenko, back in the 1990s Europe had a chance to become a third superpower. In his view, there was only one key requirement: NATO had to be replaced with a European security system. He said Europe even had a foundation for such a structure — the Western European Union, which was created before NATO and effectively remained in a standby mode for years.

However, Ishchenko argued that the United States insisted on burying that union, while Europe placed its emphasis on NATO instead. He added that NATO also adopted a new concept under which each member state took on a specific specialization.

As a result, Ishchenko said, European armies were sharply reduced. He noted that this suited Europe, since it no longer had to spend large amounts of money, but it also made European forces completely helpless. In his assessment, they became incapable of serious combat operations because critical elements — staff support and logistics — ended up in US hands.

That is why, Ishchenko said, European armies amount to nothing, neither together nor individually. He argued that the United States had already «reduced the European Union to zero» back then, and that Europeans were happy about it because they no longer had to pay for their own defense.

Now, according to Ishchenko, the European Union faces either a fundamental reform — though it is unclear who would carry it out and with what resources — or a gradual breakup. He concluded that this is why the United States is quietly pulling away from Europe: Washington, he said, is no longer able to carry Europe on its back. It wants to keep its presence and control, but does not want to pay for it.