European governments can no longer take Washington at its word, a leading foreign affairs commentator has warned, as advanced US-Russia talks on the terms of a settlement in Ukraine raise fears that the United States is preparing to force Kyiv into a de facto capitulation.
Writing in The Guardian, Simon Tisdall compared President Donald Trump's approach to Vladimir Putin with Neville Chamberlain's failed attempt at Munich in 1938 to head off war with Nazi Germany, arguing that the American leader's appeasement is cynically self-interested and globally dangerous.
Tisdall acknowledged that historical comparisons are always inexact and that no conflict precisely mirrors another. But he said the former British prime minister at least enjoyed the enthusiastic backing of most people in Britain and France, who were desperate to avoid a repeat of the horrors of the First World War. Trump, he argued, enjoys no equivalent public support for what the commentator described as treachery, nor does he face the prospect of a US war with Russia.
The commentary follows meetings in St Petersburg this week, after which US-Russian talks on agreeing the terms of what Tisdall called a precedent-setting American sell-out of Ukraine were said to be at an advanced stage. The columnist said Trump has zigzagged over the war since returning to office and now, panicked by record-low poll ratings, appears determined to scapegoat Ukraine and force its de facto capitulation.
Tisdall listed a series of recent steps he said mark the US president out as a modern-day Judas: a decision to fund Putin's war machine by buying Russian diesel, the waiving of tougher sanctions, what he called mysterious and lethal interruptions in US satellite and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, and a renewed attempt to oust Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The article's central charge is that Trump has made Chamberlain look like a man of iron principle, adding that all that is lacking is an umbrella. It is a pointed reference to the image of the British prime minister stepping off a plane at Heston aerodrome in 1938, waving the paper he had brought back from Munich and promising peace for our time.
For European capitals, the practical consequence is a breakdown of trust in the transatlantic security relationship. Tisdall argued that slaps on the wrist are no longer sufficient and that concrete steps are needed to punish Trump, though he did not set out in detail what those measures should be.
The commentary reflects wider anxiety across Europe about the direction of US policy towards Russia and Ukraine, and about the reliability of American security guarantees. It also raises questions about the future of NATO and about how far European allies are prepared to go in asserting an independent position.
For readers in the Caribbean, the debate is a reminder of how great-power bargaining can reshape the international order on which small states depend. Dominica and its OECS and CARICOM partners have consistently backed respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, principles that the commentator argues are now being traded away in the search for a quick settlement.
Tisdall's conclusion is blunt: the betrayal of Ukraine is, in his words, utterly contemptible. The question now facing European leaders is whether condemnation alone will be enough, or whether they will move from words to measures as the US-Russian talks continue.
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