Speaking at a NATO meeting in Belgium, the defense secretary said the U.S. would no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship with its allies.

Summary

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that restoring Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is “unrealistic,” signaling a shift in U.S. policy toward negotiated settlements.

Speaking at NATO headquarters, he argued that pursuing full territorial recovery would prolong the war and emphasized the need for security guarantees without NATO membership or U.S. troops in Ukraine.

Hegseth outlined Trump’s approach of reducing Russian war funding through increased U.S. energy production while shifting more military support responsibility to Europe.

  • EvergreenGuru@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    7 hours ago

    Europe is having energy problems. Germany especially is seeing its manufacturing capacity decline due to high energy costs. Before Russia intervened directly and the US forced Europe to enact sanctions, they were receiving gas from Russia at a discount and they were paying in Euros. Now they buy expensive LNG from Norway and the USA. They’ve replaced cheap energy with expensive energy.

    If NATO hadn’t backed the coup to kick off the Ukraine war, Germany’s car manufacturing would be growing into the EV market instead of shrinking and hobbled. Old allies can’t catch a break.

    New NATO countries are finding out that the US can’t afford vassal states like it used to. The Trump administration expects each country to pay for NATO military expenditures. Military budgets are increasing, and countries are trading financial sense to be allies with a declining American empire.

    Meanwhile Russia is part of BRICS, an economic bloc that includes more than half the world’s population. And what is Trump’s response? Trump wants to go to war against the biggest economic bloc in world history. Trying to fight half the world in an economic war sounds like a losing strategy if I’ve ever heard one.