Russia fixes sights on Europe, as U.S. loses credibility as leader of free world

U.S. President Donald Trump has befuddled the world since coming to power, but the last few weeks have been ghastly. Insults have rained down on friends—Canada, Germany, Britain—agreements like NAFTA upturned, and NATO’s membership threatened. Meanwhile, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has, figuratively speaking, gotten away with murder: some 11,000 have been killed in his war in Ukraine, and more than half a million in Syria, where he props up the regime. It gets worst. Trump’s one on one with Russia’s president last month may have ominous results. Hailed as “better than super” by Russia, it implied, among other things, that both agreed on the sanctions and had become to an “interesting” deal on Ukraine. If this is so, this agenda is disconcerting. It demands an answer as to why the leader of the free world is caving to the will of someone who many see as an international criminal. In a far-reaching Globe and Mail piece, Mark MacKinnon writes that “many believe Mr. Putin would like to see the planet divided once more into Western, Russian, and perhaps Chinese, zones of control.” Ukraine, which MacKinnon considers indispensable to Russia’s greatness “would fall on Russia’s side of any new Iron Curtain.” This may be happening already. Unpunished for the brazen annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea—he’s not on various sanctions list and Russia is still in the SWIFT system, which facilitates international financial transactions—Putin felt empowered. His aspirations have expanded beyond Ukraine; beyond the return of the U.S.S.R. He is aiming, it seems, to usurp Europe. To that end, the European Union and NATO must crumble. Stable relations must falter and trade wars ensue. To date, Britain is leaving the EU and newly announced tariffs are causing chaos. Germany is aiding and abetting. Its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a godsend for Russia. It brings much-needed revenues, punishes Ukraine, and blocks Europe’s energy independence. Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, is fusing countries through his alt-right movement. It aims to align Europeans further with Moscow which, masquerading as the standard-bearer for national purity, family, and Christian values, aims to coerce Europe further to its will. So, Putin gets Europe. What does Trump get? Because he too often telegraphs that he wants to be a one-man show with absolute power—a dictator without checks and balances—America’s president gets a willing mentor to make America like Russia. In this America, as in Russia, the leader’s lies are truths. The free press is the enemy of the people to be diminished and, perhaps, eliminated. Congress—all checks and balances—are neutralized, and the president’s office is used to enrich the incumbent, his family, and entourage. Next, the judiciary and the security intelligence apparatus must be corrupted, beholden to the leader. Subservience of officials, indeed citizens, is guaranteed by fear: the idea of giving up Americans to Russia for questioning is an example of what may lie ahead in such a scenario. Mr. Putin’s carrot to Trump is his mentoring on how to obtain absolute power. Solo meetings are needed for such schemes. But there’s more for the American president than just controlling America. He gets all of North America. Such an arrangement explains why Trump is so sure that Mexico “will pay for the wall,” and his incomprehensible rudeness to Canada’s prime minister. Incomprehensible, until one realizes that without U.S. defence, Canada is vulnerable to Russia or, equally frightening, to a now-belligerent neighbour to the south. This is important: if Putin can attack Ukraine because he wants its territory and human and natural resources, why can’t Trump? But what about the Middle East and China? Russian sources broadcast that these were addressed at the secret Helsinki, Finland, meeting between Trump and Putin. Also, it was learned, that Israel is to be strengthened—a nod to intense pressure from its Russia and U.S. diaspora. But Syria’s freedom fighters are thrown to the wolves and China may become a common enemy. But first thing’s first: Europe is to be Putin’s, North America Trump’s. Or is there room for hope in this scheming? Given the overwhelming negative reaction to Helsinki by the American people—and the world—this new world order may be dead. Let’s hope so; but don’t count on it yet. Oksana Bashuk Hepburn, formerly president of a consulting firm brokering interests between Canada and Ukraine and a senior policy adviser to the government of Canada, writes on international issues. The Hill Times