Trump's appointments have electrified the West

Source: The Daily Telegraph
Translation: Telegrafi.com

Donald Trump's imminent arrival in the White House is not only having a profound impact on American politics, but is also creating dramatic changes in the global landscape, particularly in the behavior of hostile states that may soon find themselves targeted by the administration. new.

Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are among those countries that have reason to worry about the impact that the incoming Trump administration's tougher approach will have on them.

Although the president-elect is still in the early stages of forming his new administration, it is already clear that Trump 2.0 will be far more assertive than Trump 1.0 about his approach to global adversaries.

The appointment of Pete Hegseth, a high-profile military veteran and presenter at Fox News, as the next defense secretary, will surely focus attention on places like Moscow and Tehran. Tough on both Russia and Iran, Hegseth has been harshly critical of the Biden administration's half-hearted support for Ukraine, while previously calling on Trump to take direct military action against the ayatollahs.

Similarly, Senator Marco Rubio, who is expected to become secretary of State, is not willing to compromise when it comes to America's enemies; he has spoken out against a cease-fire in Gaza, stressing that Israel must "destroy every element of Hamas that it encounters," an approach that stands in stark contrast to the Biden administration's push for a hostage-exchange ceasefire deal.

Also, the appointment of John Ratcliffe as CIA director, who is convinced that the coronavirus came from a Chinese laboratory, and of another well-known China critic, Mike Waltz, as national security adviser, shows that with JD Vance also nominated as vice president, Washington's enemies will face great dangers from the new Trump administration.

Trump's imminent return to the Oval Office has had a mobilizing effect on America's adversaries, forcing them to seriously rethink their options.

This is particularly evident on the Ukrainian battlefield, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has embarked on a desperate drive to capture as much territory as possible, even if it means more casualties. There is a general expectation that one of Trump's first steps will be to end the conflict in Ukraine, in part because he boasted during the election campaign that he could end it within 24 hours. This has prompted both Russia and Ukraine to try to secure as much territory as possible to establish "facts on the ground" before any negotiations.

Russia's efforts to retake territory in the southern Kursk region, captured by Ukraine over the summer, are proving costly, with the Russian military experiencing losses of two thousand soldiers a day. With more than 500 casualties since the launch of Putin's "special military operation" in February 2022, Moscow has already sent around 10 North Korean troops to support its Kursk operations, a development that has serious implications for Western security.

With China and Iran already providing military support to Moscow's efforts, the involvement of another actor to support Russia's territorial ambitions is a stark reminder of the dramatic changes in the global threat environment.

This change in behavior is not limited to Washington's enemies. This week's suggestion that the European Commission is considering changing its spending policies to allow greater investment in defense and security could prove vital to ensuring that European nations have the capacity to defend their interests. .

The move, which could bring tens of billions of euros to Europe's defense needs, is a belated admission that with Trump back in power, European nations can no longer rely solely on Washington for defense.

The commission's initiative is something the British government should also consider, as the United Kingdom, as well as its European allies, are woefully ill-prepared to defend themselves without American support.

It is not unlikely, for example, that Sir Keir Starmer could soon face Trump's demand that British forces, along with other European allies, be sent to Ukraine to patrol a demilitarized zone on Ukraine's eastern border, in case of a ceasefire.

Given the current fragile state of the British Armed Forces, with the army reduced to its lowest level since the Napoleonic era, the government would find it difficult to meet such a demand, a failure which would confirm the view Trump's early warning that America's key allies are not serious about meeting their defense commitments.

Trump's imminent return to the White House could be a source of concern for America's adversaries. But it should also serve as a warning that his new administration will expect all of Washington's allies to pay their fair share for the defense of the free world. /Telegraph/