In my last column, I wrote about the reality of a post-American security future for Europe. My argument was that Europeans need to prepare—and fast—for how they can organize their defense without the United States, given Washington’s recent announcements that it would reduce its contributions to NATO’s Force Model—and thus to European defense more generally.
While some officials still downplay the extent to which these moves will weaken NATO, the U.S. withdrawal from European defense is gradually becoming the accepted reality in Europe. Defense officials across the continent are doing a lot to strengthen their military capabilities and consider options to compensate for U.S. force reductions.
There is, however, a related geopolitical challenge stemming from the reduced U.S. involvement in the trans-Atlantic alliance that is both more serious and more overlooked: the possibility of renewed intra-European competition.