Care Starmer Trump, the Russia-Ukraine war and the fragile alliance in Europe and the United States speaks

With the Staccato explosion, a century appeared in the HMS Vanguard control room, where the crew of the nuclear armed submarine was sent to the battle stations. The leader of the leader is on the internal contact. He said, “Set the case of 1SQ,” and he is asking the ballistic missile battery to prepare for the launch.

It was just training, conducted last Monday to visit the dignitaries, Prime Minister Kiir Starmer. But Mr. Starmer had a reason to pay close attention when he was presented to the place where the submarine launch key is stored: the Prime Minister is the only person in the UK authorized to request a nuclear strike.

“Are you looking for the ideal conditions?” Mr. Starmer quietly asked, as the captain explained how the vanguard maneuver should be the proper depth to launch the Trident missiles. Mr. Starmer bowed forward on the captain’s chair, and the blue glow from the bank of screens reflected in his glasses.

Later, after he climbed a 32 -foot ladder to the surface of the submarine, Mr. Starmer was reflected in his seven -month mission. He silently roams the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, and is designed to deter a nuclear conflict with Russia (at least one of the four -year -old submarines on the patrol). While Europe’s ability to defend itself was criticized, not the least of which is President Trump, Mr. Starmer said that these great boats were a symbol of iron for Britain’s commitment to NATO.

Mr. Starmer told me after we resigned that the vanguard in its local ports in Scotland: “Twenty -four hours, 365 days, year after year, for 55 years.” “He kept peace for a very long time.”

Returning to the stone boat, and we took the beach in Verth Claid, Mr. Starmer sat alone, staring at a window on the clouds. This was a few weeks of 62 -year -old British leader: The authority has swept eight months ago to their harm about the cost of living, and he now finds himself fighting to avoid the rupture of the post -World War II coalition between Europe and the United States.

“In the heart of our hearts, we knew that this moment has come a little more than three years ago, when Russian tanks rolled across the border” in Ukraine, Mr. Starmer said about the increasing weakness in Europe and the breeds of the NATO alliance. “We have to deal with this as a moment of Jalfanah and seize the initiative.”

The crisis has transformed Mr. Starmer, where the non -systematic human rights lawyer and Labor Party turned into something that resembles a war leader. With discussions about the reform of luxury and the economy to a large extent, the economy was largely shattered by concerns about British national security, Mr. Starmer Winston Churchill, and referring to his party, Clement Ateli, the first post -war prime minister, and also described the single role of Britain in the most broken West.

“Many people urge us to choose between the United States and Europe,” he said in one of the three talks last week. “Churchill didn’t.” Did not do it. It would be a big mistake, in my opinion, to choose now. “

“I think President Trump has a point when he says that there should be a greater burden that European countries should bear to defend collective soul in Europe,” Mr. Starmer added for a moment.

The immediate question is whether Britain and Europe will play a meaningful role in Mr. Trump’s negotiations with President Vladimir F. Putin from Russia. To ensure that they do this, Mr. Starmer tries to assemble a multinational military force he calls an alliance of those who wish. He says the goal is to keep the sky of Ukraine, ports and borders safe after any peace settlement.

Mr. Starmer said: “I do not trust Putin,” said Mr. Starmer. “I am sure that Putin will try to insist that Ukraine should be isolated after a deal because that gives him what he wants, which is the opportunity to enter again.”

Britain faces obstacles on each front: Russia rejected the idea of ​​peacekeeping power in NATO. Mr. Trump has not yet presented security guarantees, which Mr. Starmer says is decisive before the countries committed forces. Regardless of Britain and France, no other European country did so, even when Mr. Starmer led the first coalition military planning meeting on Thursday.

The senior British army and defense officials said that they expect many countries to contribute in the end of the planes, ships or forces in this effort. But regardless of political and diplomatic uncertainty, Mr. Starmer said he felt he had no choice but to progress in the package.

He said: “If we only move at the most careful pace, we will move very slowly and we will not be in a situation we need to be.”

Next to Mr. Starmer Diplomacy is a more eloquent goal: persuading Mr. Trump of the value of NATO, the 75 -year -old coalition, which the President as a club is underestimated by the free cyclists, and is shelter in the shadow of an American security umbrella, but he failed to pay his fair share.

Unlike President Emmanuel Macron of France or the upcoming advisor in Germany, Freders Mirz, Mr. Starmer did not invite Europe to draw an independent session of the United States on security. He insists that the “special relationship” is not being shaken and that the British and American forces are deeply intertwined (the United States supplies Trident missiles on British submarines).

Mr. Starmer cultivated Mr. Trump in an interesting manner, contacted him every few days and rose in the White House last month at a signed invitation by King Charles III to visit the state to Britain. The Prime Minister said that Mr. Trump told him how proud of his meetings with Queen Elizabeth II.

The two men cannot be lower: Mr. Starmer, disciplined and reserved, with left -wing political roots; Mr. Trump, impulsivity and expansion, with customs and instincts that remain in ownership. However, they seem to have created a relationship. Mr. Trump sometimes said on his mobile phone, one of Mr. Starmer’s assistants, to discuss favorite topics such as golf resorts in Scotland.

“On the basis of one person, I think we have a good relationship,” said Mr. Starmer of Mr. Trump, who first met in Trump Tower last fall. “I love it and respect it. I understand what he is trying to achieve.”

As for the actions of Mr. Trump – who imposed a 25 percent tariff on the British steel to President Voludmir Zelensky from Ukraine – Mr. Starmer said he realized that the president had generated a “great degree of confusion”. He said that the correct response is not to benefit from that.

“On the day when the meeting of the Oval Office between President Trump and President Zelinski was not particularly good, we have been subjected to pressure in order to get out very cash, as you know, inhibited qualities to describe how others felt,” Mr. Starmer recalls. “I took the view that it was better to take the phone and speak to both sides to try to return them on the same page.”

Mr. Starmer, National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, sent to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, to train Mr. Zelinski on how to fix the fences with Mr. Trump. In multiple sessions, two senior British officials said, they have formulated a language to alleviate Mr. Zellinski’s concern about the ceasefire in which the Russians will continue to shoot.

Then Mr. Starmer contacted Mr. Trump to transfer the progress in Kyiv and lay the foundation for a call between him and Mr. Zelinski. When the presidents spoke again, Mr. Zelinski threw his support behind Mr. Trump’s effort to make peace.

By presenting himself as a bridge, Mr. Starmer is trying to restore the role of Britain’s game for decades before he voted to leave the European Union in 2016. He showed that after a while in which Britain was “not interested” and “absent” from the world theater, “We have returned, if you want.”

But there are limits for the role of Britain in the post -Britain’s exit from the European Union: the European Union said it will exclude British arms manufacturers from a 150 billion euros ($ 162 billion defense fund (162 billion dollars), unless Britain signs a security partnership agreement with Brussels. Analysts say Britain will find it difficult to work as a bridge if Mr. Trump explodes from a more severe tariff that he pledged to impose on the European Union.

At the present time, Mr. Starmer’s ingenuity has strengthened his poll rankings and won him over the political spectrum. After an adequate start, as he was subjected to a strong economy, Mr. Starmer said the crisis was “injecting” in his government.

How long will it continue to guess anyone. Britain’s economy continues to calm down and Mr. Starmer has faced a violent reaction to decisions such as cutting payments to help retirees with heating costs in the winter. Analysts say the benefits of being a statesman can be scattered if local problems in accumulation persist.

Even the fire at an electrical sub -station in London on Friday, which closed Heathrow Airport and threw travel plans for tens of thousands in chaos, is a reminder of how the events temporarily inhibit the government’s agenda.

Painful differential differentials are waving on the road. Mr. Starmer pledged to increase military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP in Britain by 2027, and was funded by reducing development aid abroad. It is not clear how Britain will pay more than 3 percent of GDP during a decade.

“We all enjoyed distributing peace profits,” said Mr. Starmer said, noting that Europe moves to a darker era. He said, “I do not want to deal with the conflict,” but he added: “We need to think about defense and security in a more urgent way.”

Three days after visiting the submarine, Mr. Starmer participated in his party in a new fleet of ballistic missile submarines, which was built in the ship building in Barrow-in-Furnes, in northwest of England. It is scheduled to enter four classes, each of which is almost in St. Paul’s Cathedral, in the early 1930s, at an estimated cost of 41 billion pounds (53 billion dollars).

He stands at the cave factory, with the AFT section of a tall submarine over it, Mr. Starmer expressed his pride in this statement of the British power. But it was also a reminder of the extensive status of the army.

The Vanguard category submarines that are replaced by Drednoughs are nearly 30 years-a “beautiful group”, with the words of Mr. Starmer-which requires long maintenance periods. The patrols were extended to other ships in the fleet and put the sharp pressure on its crews about 130 people.

The strain was offered during Mr. Starmer’s visit to the vanguard, which recorded a record of the Royal Navy for the longest patrol. The sailors said that the food, which is premium, was deteriorated with a decrease in the submarine provisions. Four were returning to the husbands who had children while they were far away. Others lost family members, learn news from the captain on the eve of their return.

“It is with great respect for the team,” said Mr. Starmer, after he went out of the submarine deck. “But we should not celebrate it.”

He said: “This has doubled his intention to make sure that we go further and faster in our capabilities, to make sure they are not put in this position again.”