If anyone still doubts, that Washington and Kreml have the same plan for Europe…

What we have been witnessing since JD Vance’s outburst about Europe in Munich last spring are stronger and stronger signs, that the US now have joined the group of autocracies (Russia, China), that not only dislike or even hate the European democratic culture and system but want to tear it apart.

The US National Security Strategy 2025 came out last Friday, Dec 5th, and you can now read the 33 pages on the White House’s home page :

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

Reactions are starting to show, even though I find them slow and very timid (you will find some below, one of the first official being the one from Moscow)!

I have spoken with friends and contributors to this blog about my fear when it comes to the French Presidential elections to be held in the spring of 2027. At this point, Jordan Bardella, the young Presidential candidate of the far right Rassemblement National party is running far ahead any other candidate. As a reminder,  Marine Le Pen is waiting for her appeal next summer to the conviction of embezzlement for misappropriating over €4 million European Parliament funds to fund the RN staff. She is thus still barred from running for public office.

Beyond the domestic implications of seeing France potentially with a far right President in 18 months, its implications for Europe would be catastrophic in my humble view, and I can’t understand, that there isn’t more debate about it. Indeed, I really believe, that a shift of power in France in favour of the Rassemblement National, could be the end of the European construction, if not its full implosion, as well as the end of  Europe’s « sort of » united support to Ukraine and thus a potential full victory of Russia with no clue about where that would end.

We already have 2 pro-Russian countries within Europe (isn’t it by the way time to imagine that individual countries within the Union would have to leave it if they team up with enemies ??), and Italy starts to move stance towards Russia. We’ve been hearing how many observers have claimed, that Meloni so far has had a very « non-authocratic » attitude internally, and tried to remain in a somewhat neutral position when it comes to the Russian war in Ukraine. That was broken this week, when she affirmed Italy’s refusal to participate in Europe’s financing of Ukraine…

So imagine France joining that « band » ! I have started to work on documenting the strong ties, that have and still exist between the RN and Russia, and I hope to come up with something soon. By the way, the RN is « neutral » to the Russian war in Ukraine…

This is why the US National Security Strategy 2025 is so scary. I have extracted the 3 pages concerning Europe below but to make it simple it states in those pages as well as in the broader document (You almost can’t believe what you read !!!) :

·     That Europe is heading towards civilizational erasure…

·   There is only one region in the world where there are democratic problems and that is in Europe…

·      Activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies undermine political liberty and sovereignty

·      Europe practises censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition

·      Lack of confidence is most evident in Europe’s relation with Russia

·   The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition. A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments’ subversion of democratic processes

So, what is the US plan ??

Among others (see the full plan further down) :

·    American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.

·      Opening European markets to U.S. goods and services and ensuring fair  treatment of U.S. workers and businesses : In other words, Europe is to become a pure vassal of the US and its business interests…

·      Encouraging Europe to take action to combat mercantilist overcapacity, technological theft, cyber espionage, and other hostile economic practices…

Nice and friendly plan for a long term ally, isn’t it ? By the way, in the full 33 pages document, nothing is anymore mentioned about Russia being a threat whatsoever…

I recommend reading the full document if you find the time, it is very explicit and a continuation on the foreign policy level of the US domestic program written by the Heritage Foundation and published on the White House’s home page on Feb 19.

Finally, before I let you read the 3 pages titled "Promoting European Greatness" ( !), here are some interesting reactions, that I’ve seen this Weekend, starting by the Kreml :

•          Kremlin: US vision almost the same as Russia's Telegram from TT / Omni December 7, 2025, 10:41, updated December 7, 2025, 11:38

Russia welcomes the new US national security strategy presented last Friday.  The changes are "largely consistent with our vision," says Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.  It was on Friday that a new security strategy was presented by the White House. It outlined a framework for how the US should handle its foreign policy activities and what it wants the global security order to look like in the coming years.

According to the new line, the United States will not alone maintain the world order, but instead places a great responsibility on its allies to take responsibility for their own regional security.  The United States will not allow its security to be threatened, but will also not “waste blood and money to limit the influence of all the world’s major and medium-sized powers,” as the document states.  Now Russia is commenting on the policy document in positive terms.  Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for President Putin’s government, says that the new strategy deviates radically from previous administrations and that the United States and Russia have largely the same view of world politics.

“The adjustments we see are, I would say, broadly consistent with our vision,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with state-run Rossiya television that aired on Sunday.  “And perhaps we can hope that this can be a modest guarantee that we can constructively continue our joint work to find a peaceful solution in Ukraine,” Peskov added.  The strategy’s rhetoric is harsh on Europe, which it says lacks self-confidence, is paralyzed by overregulation, and faces “civilizational annihilation” if the continent does not change course.

·      In Swedish TV4, the most well-known Swedish military expert and former military commander reacts :

« It is “dangerous” that the US in its new security strategy points out Europe as undemocratic, while toning down the rhetoric against Russia. This is what military expert Joakim Paasikivi tells TV4 Nyheterna.  – The conditions for Russia’s future may have changed quite significantly because the US is so cooperative and collectively wants to break the EU, he says.  In previous security strategies, the US has described Russia as a “direct threat”, but this time that wording is not included. Instead, the US is calling for limited cooperation between the countries, writes Reuters.  The Kremlin has welcomed the strategy and says that it is “largely compatible with our vision”, writes TT.

·      The German minister of Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul : « Germany does not need "external advice" regarding "freedom of expression" or "the organization of free societies". »

Please find the document’s 3 pages on Europe below :

« . Promoting European Greatness

American officials have become used to thinking about European problems in

terms of insufficient military spending and economic stagnation. There is truth to

this, but Europe’s real problems are even deeper.

Continental Europe has been losing share of global GDP—down from 25 percent

in 1990 to 14 percent today—partly owing to national and transnational regulations

that undermine creativity and industriousness.

But this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of

civilizational erasure. The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the

European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.

Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or

less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have

economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies. Many of these

nations are currently doubling down on their present path. We want Europe to

remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its

failed focus on regulatory suffocation.

This lack of self-confidence is most evident in Europe’s relationship with Russia.

European allies enjoy a significant hard power advantage over Russia by almost

every measure, save nuclear weapons. As a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine,

European relations with Russia are now deeply attenuated, and many Europeans

regard Russia as an existential threat. Managing European relations with Russia

will require significant U.S. diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions

of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of

conflict between Russia and European states.

It is a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of

hostilities in Ukraine, in order to stabilize European economies, prevent

unintended escalation or expansion of the war, and reestablish strategic stability

with Russia, as well as to enable the post-hostilities reconstruction of Ukraine to

enable its survival as a viable state.

The Ukraine War has had the perverse effect of increasing Europe’s, especially

Germany’s, external dependencies. Today, German chemical companies are

building some of the world’s largest processing plants in China, using Russian gas

that they cannot obtain at home. The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with

European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in

unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of

democracy to suppress opposition. A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments’ subversion of democratic processes. This is strategically important to the United States precisely because European states cannot reform themselves if they

are trapped in political crisis.

Yet Europe remains strategically and culturally vital to the United States.

Transatlantic trade remains one of the pillars of the global economy and of

American prosperity. European sectors from manufacturing to technology to

energy remain among the world’s most robust. Europe is home to cutting-edge

scientific research and world-leading cultural institutions. Not only can we not

afford to write Europe off—doing so would be self-defeating for what this strategy

aims to achieve.

American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom

of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual

character and history. America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote

this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed

gives cause for great optimism.

Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a

strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to

prevent any adversary from dominating Europe.

America is, understandably, sentimentally attached to the European continent—

and, of course, to Britain and Ireland. The character of these countries is also

strategically important because we count upon creative, capable, confident,

democratic allies to establish conditions of stability and security. We want to work

with aligned countries that want to restore their former greatness.

Over the long term, it is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European. As such, it is an open question whether they will view their place in the world, or their alliance with the

United States, in the same way as those who signed the NATO charter.

Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize:

• Reestablishing conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability

with Russia;

• Enabling Europe to stand on its own feet and operate as a group of aligned

sovereign nations, including by taking primary responsibility for its own

defense, without being dominated by any adversarial power;

• Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European

nations;

• Opening European markets to U.S. goods and services and ensuring fair

treatment of U.S. workers and businesses;

• Building up the healthy nations of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe

through commercial ties, weapons sales, political collaboration, and cultural

and educational exchanges;

• Ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually

expanding alliance; and

• Encouraging Europe to take action to combat mercantilist overcapacity,

technological theft, cyber espionage, and other hostile economic practices. »