Trump’s pullout from Syria is a tabloid-friendly illustration of the consequences of three decades of European security free-riding. After the end of the Cold War, the United States lost its strategic need to protect Europe. Europe may still be an economic superpower—able to impose global obligations on even the largest companies—but it is not a military superpower.

Wealth is only as good as the rules-based international order that upholds property rights, free trade, and market-based economic institutions. Or, in other words: That pile of gold is very useful—until the people with guns come and take it.

Without a shared defense policy, pooled military assets, and common military doctrine, the continent’s eastern flank will be vulnerable.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/16/trump-abandoned-the-kurds-poland-and-the-baltics-could-be-next/