The 27 states that make up the European Union (EU) plus the United Kingdom, together with the 29 NATO member countries, have finally decided to fully assume the foreign defense policy of the United States and align themselves with it. This is a direct consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory and the beginning of the war that has been raging for a year now and which is leaving an undetermined number of dead - estimated at several thousand - children, civilians and military personnel, together with the destruction of numerous cities. To this must be added the expenditure of billions of dollars in arms contributed by Washington together with EU countries and others. In addition, two countries that have been historically neutral - Finland and Sweden - have formally requested their incorporation into the Atlantic military pact, breaking more than 200 years of neutrality that spared them from the last two world wars.

Europe has generated the largest number of wars in human history. The last one, in 1999, by NATO forces against Yugoslavia lasted almost three months, leaving more than two thousand dead -including 87 minors- and extensive material damage in the bombing of Belgrade and other cities. The war being waged on Ukrainian territory is now in progress. Europe does not stop fearing Russia and has included China on its list. The perception of insecurity has been increased by the global presence of the latter country which has led the United States to line up with the EU convinced that its hegemony and principles are threatened. The direct consequence has been the political decision of the Europeans to make the commitment to reach 2% or more of their GDP in military spending a reality, which is a radical change in countries such as Germany that in 2020 allocated only 1.34% of the product in defense. With this, the policy that sought to maintain a certain independence from the United States is left behind and what former President Donald Trump insistently claimed regarding Europe's underinvestment in its own security becomes a reality. The echoes and fears of war have also led Japan to increase its defense spending, announcing its rearmament and doubling military spending from 1.07% of GDP in 2020 to the 2% it expects to reach in 2027. In the Asia-Pacific, we can add the commitment of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) to build nuclear submarines, which will allow the Australians to have at least three submersibles in the next decade and two more in the future. It remains to be seen how Washington will try to influence Latin America and Africa, which so far have remained on the sidelines of the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Since the end of the Second World War, the division of Europe into two blocs and the Cold War we have known, which lasted until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Western Europeans have handed over their security to the United States, which stationed thousands of troops, nuclear weapons and military bases guarding their borders against the Warsaw Pact. Washington has guaranteed the peace of mind of the NATO countries by assuming hundreds of billions of dollars, while its allies have been struggling to meet part of the financial commitments they have made. Moreover, since France decided to take an independent path in 1966 and withdraw from the military alliance, criticism of the presence of U.S. soldiers increased proportionally to the country's involvement in the Vietnam War, which had a devastating effect on its image practically all over the world. General Charles de Gaulle's decision not to abandon NATO's commitment to collective defense, but without subordination to a foreign power, led him to assert political independence, military autonomy and develop his own nuclear power. Hostility to Washington's policies in Europe together with France's rivalries with the United Kingdom weakened the structure of the Atlantic alliance in the following decades. The French Fifth Republic and the proud heads of state who succeeded de Gaulle - Presidents Pompidou, d'Estaing, Mitterrand and Chirac - for more than 40 years maintained the independent stance without abandoning collaboration with NATO until the arrival of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who in 2009 rejoined his country to the military pact. During this long period of time, the possibility of creating a "European army" to reaffirm Europe's independence from the United States was raised many times. There have been several high-level initiatives, most notably that of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 1988, the Saint-Malo declaration signed 10 years later by then British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac, or more recently that made by President Emmanuel Macron in 2018 and strongly supported by former Chancellor Angela Merkel before the European Parliament that same year, where she stated that "a European army will show the world that a war between European countries will never again be possible". It is not superfluous to recall that the current French leader declared in November 2019: "what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO".

The war initiated by Russia's occupation of Ukraine brought about a substantial change in relations between EU countries and the United States, as well as with Russia. The irruption of China and the close relationship with Moscow are causing a reconfiguration of part of the world scenario. Europe agreed to join Washington in the defense field by significantly increasing its military budget, which will probably exceed the percentage requested and has already unleashed an arms race that will consume a significant part of national budgets. The European decision is undoubtedly influenced by the consolidation of China as a global power aimed at disputing the hegemony of the United States at all levels, although it still has a long way to go to reach or surpass the United States in terms of state-of-the-art technology and, obviously, culture. The change in Europe's foreign defense policy is so far being supported by its citizens insofar as only political and financial support and limited arms deliveries are provided. Ukraine is demanding aircraft and missiles, and nothing ensures that the demands will not continue to increase and be met. According to some military analysts, Ukraine alone has no chance of winning in the current scenario. The ongoing war, like all wars, will leave after-effects that will be difficult to repair, but it has also shaken the global scenario, exposing the limited capacity of the United Nations to solve crises. In the 20th century, the world order changed as a result of two world wars. Today, the challenges facing humanity start with climate urgency, the need to preserve the planet and end the war that could escalate and spread to Europe. It is time to adapt the international system and its organizations to this reality. The question is whether we will have to wait for a third world war to happen.