By Athena Papakosta

Not only is former US President Donald Trump not taking back what he boasted about last weekend, but he repeated them on Wednesday, remaining true to his position that Russia will do whatever it wants, even attacking a State – Member of NATO.

On Wednesday night, speaking at a new campaign rally in South Carolina, the favorite for the Republican nomination emphasized that “if they don’t pay there will be no protection for them and Joe Biden who said, that ‘this is bad,’ it is not because nobody pays.”

The former occupant of the White House brings the thorn of defense spending back high on the agenda and keeps his green light on for Moscow to attack any NATO Member State it wishes if it does not fulfill its financial obligations within the framework of the Alliance.

Europe is in turmoil as it realizes that it may, should Trump return to the White House, find itself on its own and having to fend for itself without the valuable support of the United States.

Such a thing is neither simple nor easy. One only has to consider the fact that despite the significant increase in defense spending recorded after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014, the Europeans remain to a large extent completely dependent on the United States in terms of Defense.

Already the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, has announced that this year 18 of the 31 NATO Member States will spend 2% of their GDP on Defense, adding also that the European Alliance Member States will invest a total of 380 billion dollars in Defense.

Yesterday, Thursday, NATO Defense Ministers met in Brussels. Concern over the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House and carrying out his threats has been palpable, and the issue of Europe’s strategic autonomy has returned to the table.

For example, the Minister of Defense of Estonia, which borders Russia, said that “Europe must be ready to defend its territories”.

For his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, although he expressed confidence that the United States will continue to be a stable ally, asked the Old Continent not to follow the path of disintegration and not to act “autonomously in matters of defense” . As he had explained, one day before speaking to the Reuters news agency, “80% of NATO’s defense spending comes from NATO allies outside the EU.”

It was also preceded by the president of the United States, Joe Biden, who pointed out that the North Atlantic Alliance is, for Washington, a sacred commitment.

“As long as I am president of the United States, if Putin attacks a NATO member, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory,” he said.

But, at the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic and Donald Trump’s camp have, according to Bloomberg, drawn up plans for the next day in the Alliance with the former American president once again at the helm of the United States.

In particular, writes Bloomberg, they are discussing a two-speed alliance in which Article 5 will only apply to Member States that have met their defense spending targets, with Donald Trump seeking, at the same time, to end the ongoing war in Ukraine having – meanwhile cut off US aid to Kiev.

Regardless of whether Donald Trump returns to the White House and does what he promised during the campaign, many (analysts and non-analysts) note that what he said is a wake-up call and an opportunity for Europe to remember to reorient itself in a dangerous period for the West. The US election is nine months away and the clock is already counting down.