94Ha Viewpoint
The more frightening prospect is that European countries not only have to face the risk of the United States withdrawing from Europe, but the greater crisis is that once Russia gets a chance to breathe, the military machine will not stop running. In three to five years, Europe may stage a more tragic all-out war similar to the two world wars in the 20th century!
The world is currently experiencing a profound rebalancing of power, especially in US-European relations, and the Ukrainian crisis has become a catalyst for this transformation. On February 28, US President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky had a fierce dispute in the White House presidential office. Zelensky left the White House early without signing the mineral agreement between the two countries. The US-Ukraine “quarrel of the century” has attracted widespread attention from the international community. At the same time, European leaders have expressed their support for Ukraine in an unprecedented manner. As a highly developed alliance of countries, the EU has begun to oppose US unilateralism through coordination and joint actions. The Economist even called it a “mafia-style new world order”, a trend that is relatively rare after the Cold War.
Realism is the most explanatory school of international relations theory. From a realist perspective, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reflects the logic of offensive realism. The core of the logic is that in an anarchic system, the more power a country has, the safer it is. Russia can only resist external threats and cope with NATO’s eastward expansion and Western pressure by strengthening its own power and reshaping the geopolitical structure of Eastern Europe through force.
It should be clear that this strategy has failed to bring Russia the expected security guarantee, but has instead triggered a strong backlash from Western countries, exacerbating Russia’s international isolation.
