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| If the King is a fool then his Palace is a circus |
Editor's note: The following speech was delivered by French Senator Claude Malhuret during a French Senate debate on Ukraine and European security on March 4, 2026. Senator Malhuret represents the Department of Allier in central France (biggest city Vichy).
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a turning point in its history.
The American shield is slipping away.
Ukraine risks being abandoned.
Russia is being strengthened.
What is happening in Washington is not merely a change in policy. It is a rupture. The United States, which for eighty years has been the pillar of the free world, now sends a message that shakes all its allies: that its protection is uncertain, that its word is reversible, and that its commitments are conditional. For those who believed that alliances were based on shared values and enduring interests, this is a strategic earthquake.
The consequences are immediate.
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| French Senator Malhuret |
Let us be clear: the objective of Vladimir Putin is not limited to Ukraine. It is the dismantling of the international order established after 1945, whose first principle is that borders cannot be changed by force.
If that principle falls, then no nation is safe.
What we are witnessing is the return of spheres of influence— a world in which great powers divide territories among themselves, where the law of the strongest replaces the rule of law.
Europe cannot accept this.
We cannot remain dependent on a protection that may falter. We cannot subcontract our security. We cannot continue to believe that others will defend our interests in our place.
The time has come for Europe to assume its own destiny. This means strengthening our defense capabilities, coordinating our strategies, and reaffirming, without ambiguity, our support for Ukraine.
Because Ukraine’s fight is our fight.
Its resistance is the front line of our own security.
If Ukraine falls, it is not only a country that disappears. It is a principle that collapses. And with it, the fragile balance that has preserved peace on our continent for decades.
History has taught us what hesitation costs. It has taught us that weakness invites aggression, and that divisions among democracies are always exploited by those who oppose them. We must not repeat those errors. Europe has the means, the talent, and the responsibility to act. What it needs now is the will.
Let us find that will—before others decide our future for us.
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Illustration: F. Stop Fitzgerald, PillartoPost.org daily online magazine
