Europe Must Wake Up
As China and North Korea fight in Ukraine, Europe’s old belief that Asia is someone else’s problem no longer holds
By Chuck Warren
North Korean troops have been fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine since October, and Ukrainian forces have captured Chinese nationals also fighting for Russia.
Additionally, "North Korea has provided missiles to Russia for use in the war against Ukraine. Reuters reported on April 15, 2025, that North Korea has dispatched ballistic missiles, long-range artillery, and multiple-launch rocket systems to Russia, representing a significant direct military aid. Reuters reported on April 28, 2025, that North Korea has supplied weapons, including artillery munitions and ballistic missiles, to Russia. DIA.mil confirmed that Russia used ballistic missiles produced in North Korea in its war against Ukraine, citing North Korean missile debris found in Ukraine."
So dear thinker and reader, why are Europeans not doing more to help America in Asia?
Let's engage in a brief history lesson.
Because the world changed more than a century ago, and we still have not woken up. And Europeans definitely have not woken up. Nor do they seem to understand what a true partnership entails.
Until the 19th century, you could divide Europe and Asia into different continents. First of all, no country could quickly move its military from Western Europe to Eastern Asia, or vice versa, to fight. And the Ottoman Empire was separating Europe and Asia. So even though the transportation technology was there, you still had to first defeat the Ottomans on the way.
In the 1920s, the Ottoman Empire dissolved. Railroads were built, connecting Europe and Asia, enabling mass mobilization. Not long after, long-range airplanes became prominent. By the time World War II was being fought, you could even use aircraft carriers to help bomb countries far, far away from you. By the 1960s, intercontinental missiles had been invented, which allowed the destruction of a country literally on the other end of the world within minutes.
I am giving this quick history lesson because thousands of years of history created a paradigm in the human psyche, but more things happened in the half a century I talked about than all the time before the 20th century. That old paradigm is obsolete, but it has proven very difficult for Americans and even more so for Europeans to do away with it.
Case in point: North Koreans and Chinese in Ukraine. Why aren't Europeans helping put pressure on them? They still think that Europe is Europe, and Asia is Asia, and they have little business in Asia because that is how it used to be for thousands of years. Again, there were no airplanes thousands of years ago, let alone ballistic missiles, but their minds are still stuck in the past.
Even though China and North Korea are doing everything they can to convince them otherwise!
The reality is that the American economy is deeply intertwined with the global order, and peace in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia is the prerequisite and paramount for our prosperity. In the same way, European security is entangled with Asian security.
Europeans need to wake up to this. Helping the United States with China and North Korea is not doing us favors. It is protecting themselves. Just like America protecting Europe is not a favor to the Europeans, but protecting our own economic interests.
If there’s one thing the second Trump administration should be remembered for, it’s challenging the conventional wisdom. The way to do this in diplomacy is challenging Europeans’ perception of themselves as distinct from the Middle East and especially Asia.
The administration needs to force Europeans to accept a win-win deal: If you want us to help you against Russia, you should help us against North Korea and China.
This is advantageous for everyone, but it does not mean that it is easy. Again, European thinking is outdated and frankly dim-witted and boneheaded. Sadly, it needs twisting their arms.
It is also beneficial to Europeans in the long term, but difficult in the short term. China will threaten to punish Europe economically, and it can. E.U.–China trade is about $800 billion, and China holds the cards. When the other side holds the cards, one thing to do is to wish for better luck. But an alternative option, especially against a cheating power like China, is to knock over the table.
The administration’s tariffs provide an opportunity for a reset so that the U.S. and Europe can cooperate and immunize themselves from Chinese economic punishment.
But all of this requires robust American diplomacy, a mix of carrots, sticks, and persuasion, to convince Europeans to stop being stuck in the past and start thinking about their long-term future.
Friedrich Merz, who is about to become the next German chancellor, once rejected European pacifism, commercialism at the cost of freedom, and neutrality against evil dictators. He said, “Peace exists in every cemetery. Freedom only exists in open, liberal societies.”
This is promising, but now he will have the time to prove it and lead Europe in that direction. Not just against Russia, but also against China, North Korea, and even Iran.
We are all in this together. These dictators will not spare any of us. And Europeans need to wake up to the fact that being so far away from Asia is not the protection it used to be.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.
