The general who led the US military in Europe says the US views the continent as 'insignificant' and points to a potential 'huge problem'
The commander of the US Army in Europe, Lt. gender. Ben Hodges, in Vilnius, Lithuania, on March 1, 2017. PHOTO: Mindaugas Kulbis / AP / Profimedia
The European continent is “gradually beginning to realize” that it cannot count on the US as an equitable partner, warns the former commander of the American Ground Forces in Europe, retired general Ben Hodges.
“The United States sees Europe as unimportant, except perhaps for commercial purposes,” Hodges said in an interview with Euronews on Monday's “Europe Today” show.
In his view, the US administration's approach to the conflict was “doomed to failure from the start” because it treated the war as “a massive real estate transaction”.
Hodges pointed to recent revelations about Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, as evidence that Washington's main interest is “business with Russia after it's all over.”
“If things go the way Mr. Witkoff and Jared Kushner want with the Russians, (this) will be a huge problem for Europe,” he said, warning that there would be millions more refugees if Ukraine is forced to accept an unsatisfactory peace deal.
This shift in priorities was highlighted this week when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio decided not to attend a major NATO meeting in Brussels.
“It's unusual, but that's part of the problem,” Hodges noted, adding that on the current administration's list of priorities, “Europe is fourth,” behind the Western Hemisphere, the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East.
Despite the bleak outlook, the general insisted the situation was not hopeless. He rejected the premise that Ukraine would be defeated, noting that after 11 years of war, Russia occupies only 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and part of the Russian economy is “in great difficulty.”
According to Hodges, “Ukraine and Europe together” have the industry, wealth and population to stop Russia.
“There is no reason why Europe, including Ukraine, cannot stop Russia,” he said. “What they lack is self-confidence and political will,” added the former commander of the US military in Europe.
