Is Europe becoming the frontline of the military battlefield against Russia?

Time of India

18-07-2025

Mrutyuanjai Mishra is a commentator with Politiken, Denmark's largest newspaper. He also comments on Asia on Danish TV and radio channels. He has authored many analytical articles on Asia and India in several Danish newspapers. He has studied anthropology at Copenhagen University and has specialized in human rights and democratization. Mrutyuanjai Mishra has spent half of his life in India and the other half in the Scandinavian countries Denmark and Sweden. Mrutyuanjai Mishra is also a consultant lecturer on issues related to India and Asia at institutions of higher education. He is currently working on a book on India to be used for higher educational purposes in Scandinavian countries. LESS ... MORE
The 18th of July holds deep significance for human rights activists across the world. It is Nelson Mandela International Day: his birthday. Had he been alive today, Mandela would have turned 107. He passed away at the age of 95, but his legacy continues to inspire global conversations about justice, dignity, and reconciliation.
Mandela was the first black head of state in South Africa and the first to be elected through a fully democratic process, after spending 27 years in prison for opposing apartheid. He was deeply inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. South Africa's long, painful journey toward freedom mirrors India's own decades-long struggle for independence, finally achieved in 1947.
Mandela once urged each of us, regardless of nationality, race, or background, to dedicate at least one hour on this day to doing something meaningful for someone else or for a community in need.
Those who admire his values and wish to honor his legacy can always find a way to help, even in small acts of kindness. These gestures, however modest, reflect a deeper commitment to our shared humanity. And yet, today, that very humanity is under increasing strain.
After attending a peace conference in Berlin on July 12–13, I left with a sobering realization: Europe is in urgent need of clarity, courage, and political sanity.
Participants from across the globe had gathered to voice growing concern about the escalating political and military tensions in Europe and beyond. The conference brought together peace activists, academics, students, former diplomats, politicians, military officials, economists, musicians, and other professionals. Hundreds more joined virtually.
The opening session bore a striking title: 'Man Is Not a Wolf to Man: For a New Paradigm in International Relations.'
In her keynote address, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute, traced the historical forces that have led us to this dangerous precipice. She warned that we are at a 'punctum saliens', a critical inflection point in history, comparable to the years preceding the First and Second World Wars.
The message is clear: we must act. We can draw strength from the South African philosophy of Ubuntu, which teaches: 'I am because you are.' This simple but profound truth reminds us that our fates are intertwined. Peace in one region fosters peace everywhere. Conflict in one region sends tremors throughout the entire world.
It was deeply moving to see American peace activists standing shoulder to shoulder with others from around the world, united by the conviction that a more cooperative and just global order is still within reach.
One of the most powerful voices at the conference was Ray McGovern, former senior CIA analyst and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). Now in his eighties, McGovern spoke with the authority of someone who has witnessed generations of geopolitical shifts. He asserted that the United States had fundamentally betrayed Russia after the Cold War.
Recalling a conversation with Mikhail Gorbachev's secretary, McGovern recounted asking, 'Why didn't you get it in writing from U.S. Secretary of State James Baker that NATO wouldn't expand an inch?' The response was tragic in its naivety: 'We trusted you all.'
Mandela Day reminds us that trust, once broken, is extraordinarily hard to rebuild. Today, Russia views American military intentions with profound suspicion. One emerging flashpoint is Denmark. The Danish government has invited the US to build military bases on its territory, without holding a referendum or even consulting the public.
Many Danes now fear that their country could be compelled to accept nuclear weapons and relinquish control over what the U.S. military does on Danish soil.
Who would have imagined, just a few years ago, that Denmark could be transformed into a frontline state in a major war, one that might spiral into a third world war? Critics argue that Danish politicians have all but surrendered their national sovereignty.
This brings us to one of Russia's leading strategic thinkers: Dmitri Trenin, Academic Leader at the Institute for Military World Economy and Strategy, Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Speaking from Russia at the Berlin conference, Trenin delivered a stark warning about the direction into which Europe is heading.
'Europe is intent on becoming the frontline of the military battlefield against Russia,' he said.
Trenin argued that this confrontation is being used to create a new cohesion in Europe, positioning the continent as a replacement for the United States in the strategic standoff with Russia, while Washington shifts its focus to containing China. According to Trenin, the justification for this military escalation is built on a false premise: that Russia is preparing to attack NATO.
He warned that this narrative is being used to rationalize a long-term military buildup, including long-range weapons systems and the deployment of troops to the Ukrainian front, based on the dangerously misguided assumption that Russia will not retaliate.
'The current situation,' he said, 'is even more dangerous than during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. But there is still a narrow window of hope, if meaningful action is taken at this eleventh hour.'
So, what can we do for humanity on this Mandela Day?
Perhaps we can begin by urging more Europeans to choose dialogue over confrontation, cooperation over coercion, and peace over militarization. Europe must not allow itself to become a vassal state of the United States, nor should it attempt to pressure nations like India, China, or Brazil into adopting a unipolar vision of world order.
Instead, Europe should reclaim its independent voice, one rooted in diplomacy, dignity, and balance. It must help shape a multilateral world where all nations are heard and respected, and where the Global South is finally given the space and justice it needs to heal from centuries of colonialism, exploitation, and racism.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.