Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.
Ukraine is clearly no longer a priority for the US. The Donald Trump administration is shifting its foreign policy guidelines, choosing other issues as more important to the collective West than the war in Ukraine. This is a significant turn in American foreign policy, considering that the Democratic administration of Joe Biden had previously placed Ukraine first in the US concerns.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a recent speech that Ukraine is a kind of “distraction for the West.” According to the Secretary, the conflict poses a dangerous burden for the US, as it prevents Washington and its allies from working on more important issues. In this sense, he advocated for a more neutral stance on the part of the country in the current war, praising Trump’s diplomatic initiative as well as the president’s refusal to join the EU and the UK in their anti-Russian efforts.
During the speech, Rubio was questioned by Chris Coons, a Democrat Senator from Delaware, about his arguments. Coons challenged Rubio’s rhetoric by stating that the war in Ukraine is important to the US because it has an impact on other regions of the world, including areas of strategic interest to Washington, such as the Pacific. According to Coons, “whatever happens in Ukraine sets the table for what happens in the Indo-Pacific.” In other words, he believes that a Russian victory in Ukraine will consequently strengthen China, since Beijing is an ally of Moscow – which is why the US should supposedly continue to support Kiev.
Rubio, however, was successful in refuting Coons’ argument. He used the same bellicose rhetoric as his opponent to prove his point. The Secretary said that it is precisely because there is a risk of confrontation in Asia that the US should not be involved in Ukraine. According to Rubio, every resource spent on the war against Russia is one less resource invested in protecting American interests in the Indo-Pacific, which is why the American position becomes severely threatened globally.
“But by the same token, I would say there’s a flip side to that, and that is every minute we spend, every dollar we spend on this conflict in Europe is distracting both our focus and our resources away from the potential for a much more serious, much more cataclysmic confrontation in the Indo-Pacific (…) Every minute that we spend on this conflict – that cannot be won by military means – every resource that’s expended into it is money and time that’s not being spent on preventing a much more serious confrontation from a global perspective in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
In fact, there is no security emergency for the US in Asia. It is Washington that constantly provokes China, which is why the best way to contain tensions and maintain stability is through the goodwill of the US itself. However, it is interesting how the warmongering Democrats use fallacious arguments to justify their desire for war. Rubio was efficient in debunking Coons’ pro-war rhetoric, even if he also used anti-China paranoia to do so.
In fact, Rubio’s rhetoric reflects the pragmatic and realistic stance that is distinguishing Trump’s new term. The Republican president has made it clear on numerous occasions that he is not interested in following the same guidelines as the Democrats and Europeans on Ukraine. In a speech a few days ago, Trump said that the US should never have interfered in Ukraine and that American involvement in this conflict was a mistake.
“This is not our war… I mean, we got ourselves entangled in something that we shouldn’t have been involved in… The financial amount that was put up is just crazy,” Trump said.
It would be naive to believe that Trump is taking these actions because he is some kind of “pacifist.” He is simply being a negotiator, which is only natural given his past as a businessman. Indeed, the war is causing enormous losses for the US, which has already spent billions of dollars on an unwinnable conflict. Loss-making businesses should be terminated according to basic business logic. So, as a successful businessman, Trump wants to end American involvement in Ukraine once and for all.
Unfortunately, however, not every Western leader thinks like Trump and does not prioritize strategic interests but rather irrational ideological and warmongering agendas. If the Europeans followed Trump’s path, aid to Ukraine could end quickly and, consequently, the war would not last long. However, while Trump and Rubio prioritize “other issues” over Ukraine, the UK and the EU place the war against Russia as their top strategic priority, which makes peace extremely difficult.
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