now at the Council on Strategic Risks, a think tank. “To the extent that Trump is undermining that trust, he’s blowing holes in that umbrella.” The allies’ concern stems, first and foremost, from
Trump’s abysmal treatment of Ukraine, which former Presi- dent Joe Biden vowed Washington would support in its defensive war against Russia “for as long as it takes.” But in his first two months in office, Trump suspended
and then reinstated arms transfers and intelligence sharing with Kyiv; endorsed the outlines of a peace plan that Russian President Vladimir Putin could have written; forced Ukraine to sign a deal to share mineral resources with Washington to repay America for its aid; and humiliated Ukrainian Presi- dent Volodymyr Zelenskyy in their first Oval Office meeting. Europeans in particular have been alarmed not only by
Trump’s seeming infatuation with Putin, but also by his repeated denigration of NATO, the alliance that has kept Russia in check and fostered stability and prosperity since the end of World War II. While Trump’s tirades have frightened allies into spend-
ing more on their own defense — a welcome, long-overdue response — his repeated suggestions that America would not honor its longstanding commitment to protect them have helped strengthen right-wing forces within Europe and prompted a reconsideration of their nuclear options. So, too, have Trump’s repeated threats to the sovereignty
and territorial integrity of Panama, whose canal Trump cov- ets; Greenland, which is part of Denmark, a NATO founding member; and Canada, which Trump has said repeatedly that he wants to annex. France and the U.K. have already begun discussing
whether they should extend their own nuclear shield to Ger- many and Poland. Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, refused to
rule out the idea of developing a bomb, a notion that would have been verboten given German history before Trump’s reelection. He has also endorsed the idea of relying on the U.K. and France’s nuclear shield, rather than Washington’s. In Poland, another NATO mem-
ber that has historical cause to fear Russia, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has hinted that his country might go nuclear, saying in March that Warsaw should “reach for opportunities related to nuclear weapons.” He also said that if Ukraine had
MERZ
not given up its nuclear arsenal in the 1990s — under intense U.S. pressure — it would not have been as vulnerable to
a Russian invasion. Ukraine also has had second thoughts about having relin-
quished its nuclear arsenal. “Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons,” Zelenskyy said last fall, “or Ukraine will be in NATO.” Trump officials
“Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons,” Zelenskyy said last fall, “or Ukraine will be in NATO.” Trump officials have repeatedly ruled out NATO membership.
have repeatedly ruled out NATO membership. Within Southeast Asia, South Korea is the greatest imme-
diate proliferation concern for arms control experts. While campaigning in 2016, Trump said that South Korea
and Japan might need to develop atomic weapons. “It’s only a matter of time,” he said. But it would be wrong to blame Trump solely for the cur-
rent debate within Seoul over a nuclear capability to counter the threat posed by North Korea. Since the de facto end of the civil war in 1953, South Kore-
ans have debated acquiring nuclear weapons. But the only concerted effort to do so was ordered by military dictator Park Chung Hee in 1974. Then, as now, Park feared that the U.S. might abandon
his country, despite the fact that hundreds of U.S. nuclear weapons were still deployed there until 1991, when Washing- ton unilaterally removed them. Surveys show that over 60% of South Koreans favor either
their country going nuclear or bringing American tactical nuclear weapons back to South Korea. Already a powder keg in light of the Israel-Hamas war in
Gaza, the Middle East poses another profound proliferation risk. In his first term, Trump unilaterally withdrew from an agreement Obama had struck with Iran that froze its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Since then, Iran has raced to expand its program. Though Israel has long possessed atomic weapons which
it has not officially acknowledged, both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have warned that they would build a nuclear bomb if Tehran does so.
Judith Miller is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and an expert on U.S. foreign policy.
JULY 2025 | NEWSMAX 45
MERZ/NADJA WOHLLEBEN/GETTY IMAGES / ZELENSKYY/JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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