A Farewell to American Arms: Last-Chance Summit in London

8 December 2025 Defense

The diplomatic summit in London transformed into an existential war council. Meeting urgently within the hushed confines of 10 Down Street, European leaders and the Ukrainian president formalized what will go down in history books as the beginning of the “post-American” era.

**German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron — Photo Lauren Hurley / No. 10 Downing Street**

While a façade of unity was preserved, the discussions were haunted by a rare unanimity between those who feel “betrayed” and those who see themselves already “abandoned in the open field.”

by François de Vries — London, December 8, 2025.

The catalyst for this shockwave is the release, last Friday, of the new National Security Strategy (NSS) by the American administration. This document, of unprecedented semantic brutality, implicitly validates Russian spheres of influence in the name of transactional realism. For the diplomats present in London, the United States has confirmed that Europeans are no longer allies, but “customers whose contract has just been terminated without notice.”

A New Commercial Yalta

This nascent “merchant alliance” between Washington and Moscow instantly awakens the ghosts of the past on the continent. For Poland and the Baltic States, the American doctrine does not outline a peace strategy, but a “new Yalta.”[01] The very idea that Washington could validate the concept of “buffer zones” in the East in exchange for energy and mining agreements is experienced as a death sentence by Warsaw and Tallinn.

In the corridors of 10 Downing Street, a terrible phrase, attributed to a source close to the French presidency, sums up the feeling of shock that seized the delegations: “The American umbrella didn’t just close. They sold it to the one pouring the rain on us.”

The European Response: The “Continental Resilience Plan”

Faced with the question of whether Ukraine would find itself alone facing History, the European powers had to respond with immediate actions to avoid the collapse of the front. According to information confirmed at the end of the meeting, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Emmanuel Macron, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer effectively enacted a measure of total rupture with 70 years of Atlanticist comfort.

This “Continental Resilience Plan,” the technical details of which are to be finalized in Brussels within 48 hours, rests on two major pillars that confirm Europe’s forced emancipation:

The Financial Shock: The creation of an emergency defense fund of 500 billion euros. Historically significant, this fund will not be financed by classic debt, but by the definitive and total confiscation of Russian sovereign assets frozen in Europe, a red line the Americans had previously forbidden crossing.
Ground Engagement: The immediate deployment of a Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF). Contrary to rumors, this does not involve combat troops on the front line, but security forces for the Ukrainian hinterland (Belarusian border, logistics, air defense of western cities). This maneuver aims to free up Ukrainian soldiers for the Donbas front.

The Atlantic Alliance, an immovable pillar since 1949, ceased to breathe this morning in London. [10] It leaves behind an orphaned, frightened Europe, but one that, for the first time, has decided to pay the price in blood and treasure to avoid disappearing.

François de Vries