The spectacle of European leaders shuttling off to Washington to plead for “security guarantees” has become a grimly familiar ritual. What once might have been framed as diplomacy or alliance management now resembles something closer to a client state dutifully offering tribute. With US President Donald Trump back in the White House, the choreography has grown even more humiliating for Europe’s leaders. They arrive, cap in hand, talk a big game about “shared values” and “strategic necessity,” then depart having signed on to fund the Pentagon’s latest wishlist while their own citizens brace for higher taxes, soaring energy prices, and stagnant living standards.

At the heart of this theater is the term “security guarantees.” The phrase has become a euphemism for funneling European wealth into America’s military-industrial complex under the guise of defending Ukraine. Trump has been remarkably blunt about it: Europe will do the heavy lifting. Washington will coordinate, take its cut, and make sure US defense contractors capture the bulk of the profits. The entire setup bears the hallmarks of an old racket-except this time, the European Union is willingly buying into its own exploitation.

When the idea of a peace deal for Ukraine was floated earlier this year, the UK and France tried to seize the initiative by proposing an EU-led deployment of 30,000 troops-contingent on the war winding down. But the plan was little more than theater. It required US air cover and assumed American logistical support. In other words, even in their most ambitious posturing, Western Europe’s major powers could not imagine acting independently. Their best-case scenario amounted to serving as a symbolic ground presence while US corporations cashed in on “reconstruction” contracts.

European citizens weren’t fooled. The image of EU troops performing military exercises in a “liberated” Ukraine while flanked by US........

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