Arne Bård Dalhaug is a retired Norwegian army officer with the rank of lieutenant general, who was Chief of the Defense Staff from 2005 to 2008. Dalhaug has versatile experience from both staff functions and operational activities, at home and abroad. He ended his career in the Armed Forces as Head of the NATO Defense College (2011–2014). In 2023, Dalhaug was elected Vice President of the Norwegian Sports Association and President of the Norwegian Defense Association.

On Saturday evening, US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg made it clear that Europe has not been invited to the US and Russia's planned Ukraine negotiations.

- It is a clear signal that the US administration does not take Europe seriously.

This is what Arne Bård Dalhaug, retired lieutenant general and former chief of the Norwegian Defence Staff, tells Dagbladet.

- Europe has, through its neglect of building up proper military capabilities, not been perceived as a serious player in settings like the ones we are talking about here.

- Great concern

The Trump administration sees the world in a completely different way than Europe, Dalhaug argues.

- We have seen this play out now during the Munich Security Conference in a way that is clearly likely to cause great concern in Europe.

Dalhaug emphasizes that the Americans have approached European leaders and asked for input on the ongoing process.

- Among other things, about what troop forces Europe can provide in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine, if an agreement were to be reached. Now Kellog has also expressed that Europe will be consulted and kept updated, but will not become an active party in the negotiations.

- Are we entering a more dangerous time?

- We have long been heading into a more dangerous time - even before Trump was elected. But unfortunately there is reason to say that the behavior we have seen from the new Trump administration has probably accelerated uncertainty quite significantly in the world.

- Putin's messenger

Dalhaug is not at all gracious as he sums up Trump's first weeks in the White House:

- Let us recall that Trump has been raising his voice and berating and ridiculing close friends and allies of the United States, threatening Panama, Denmark with Greenland, and ravaging Canada - while paradoxically he seems like a poodle when he talks to Putin, and talks about Putin, he says - and continues:

- He has become Putin's messenger, in terms of political messages, and he is someone who repeats Russian, erroneous narratives about how the war began and what the causes of the war are.

- A large degree of passivity

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated during this weekend's security conference that European countries should come up with concrete suggestions rather than complaining about not having a place around the negotiating table.

Dalhaug agrees with Rutte on many points.

- Europe simply has to come up with ideas that show that it is worth including in these negotiations. That is what has been missing. There has been a very large degree of passivity in Europe around this. It has not been willing to take into account the serious military situation that it is now in.

One of the "very few" things Dalhaug will get Trump right about is that European countries have contributed far too little to NATO.

- We have a significant element of our own fault in that we are not taken seriously when military power is part of the equation that is being tried to solve.

However, Dalhaug believes that Norway will spend more money on Ukraine in the future.

- The reason I believe that is that Jens Stoltenberg has agreed to become Minister of Finance. I do not think that he would have done so without having realized that more money would eventually be given to Ukraine from Norway.

After a week of double messages from the US about Ukraine, Europe is on crisis alert.

- This week has started quite dark, I'll be honest about that, says Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide to NTB.

On Sunday, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Kaja Kallas called for an emergency meeting in Munich, while France has invited EU leaders to a summit in Paris on Monday.

At the security conference in Munich, Ukraine has been the overriding topic after Trump announced on Wednesday that he and Russia's Vladimir Putin will negotiate peace in Ukraine.

From both Ukraine and all European countries came a unison reaction: No negotiations without them.

European leaders fear that Trump is aiming for a deal that is beneficial to the United States but has negative consequences for Ukraine and Europe.

The messages from the United States include that Ukraine will not get back Russian-occupied land and that Ukraine's NATO membership will be shelved.

- Very serious

- We are experiencing the US in a deep, deep attack on what has created peace and bound Europe together since 1949. It is very serious, says Lars Bangert Struwe to Danish TV 2.

- But the US must also understand that if they push Europe away, they risk standing alone in the world. Because then other countries, such as Australia, Japan and South Korea, will question whether they dare to trust the US as an ally.

American authorities operate as if they have no understanding at all of how alliance systems work, argues Bangert Struwe.

- They are beating up their allies instead of their enemies.

Based on: Dagbladet.no

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