RE: Ceasefire Talks30 Mar 2025 16:48
As Hitler’s armies tore through Europe during World War II, the US became the UK’s most important ally, mobilising a war effort of unprecedented scale to confront Nazi Germany. US President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill stood side by side and were rightly hailed as formidable wartime leaders. Eventually, thanks to the collective effort of the US, the UK and their allies, Nazi Germany was defeated, and the war was won.
The partnership continued through decades of the Cold War – and beyond. A few years after Ukraine’s independence in 1991, it was the US and the UK that persuaded this young nation to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for a clear security guarantee should Russia ever violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The pledge made by the US in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum has been conveniently forgotten by those in power. To make things worse, President Zelenskyy has been called “a dictator” by those who should be his closest allies, been accused of starting the war and been threatened with the withdrawal of both arms and intelligence.
It's difficult to find any historical precedent for a political about-face of this scale and significance. Imagine President Roosevelt changing his mind halfway through World War II, calling Winston Churchill a dictator and then seeking to befriend Hitler. And yet, this is the situation European powers are now faced with – their principal military ally suddenly switching allegiance. Meanwhile, Americans that continue to stand by Ukraine are now being slandered as “traitors”, as happened to Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona recently after he visited Ukraine.
European nations are rightly taking steps to bolster their own security and take matters into their own hands. Historians will look back at this era in global politics as the time when Western nations trust in America ended. It’s frustrating (and incredibly sad) to see this great nation let down its allies, not only because it is the greatest threat to global stability seen in decades, but because it will ultimately do irreparable harm to America, its reputation and its capacity to advance its interests positively in the world.
Richard Branson
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