It’s not about Ukraine, but the future of America. Does US President Donald Trump want to be like Scipio, Hannibal, or Qin Shi Huang? In the end, it was all about alliances.

It was a pivotal moment for civilizations, the story behind the longest-lasting and most copied empire in history. It was the battle against the most formidable enemy, Hannibal, who harassed Rome for 17 years before finally being defeated. The war determined that writing is in Latin, not Phoenician letters, that Rome is everywhere in the world, while Carthage is a distant memory lost in the past. 

The history of the West took a sharp turn in the 3rd century BC, roughly when China began to head in a new direction. In China, this moment is clearly recorded and celebrated: the first unification of the empire under the first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. Western history, however, is less clear. It doesn’t recognize with the same certainty the significance of the Second Punic War, the conflict in which Rome fought Carthage and where Scipio, ancestor of the Caesars, defeated Hannibal. 

The report is realistic but may open new fissures between the US and its allies. America needs a common project to deal with future massive challenges.

Peter Frankopan writes a strong assessment of the recently published and controversial American report on National Security: “Rather than offering the usual blend of aspiration and reassurance, it sets out to describe the world as the United States sees it, and to define American interests in unusually direct terms…That is blunt, brutal even. But it is not wrong.”

Reading it from Rome, the biggest issue is the report’s take on Europe. In a nutshell, the EU, with a population of over 500 million and a GDP over 10 times Russia’s, wants America to defend it.

The real issue is China, the heart of American and global interests. The US requests that Europe address its own challenges more independently and help the US with China. On this basis, a new transatlantic relationship can be built.

Here, however, a series of problems begins. If the EU complies, what will the.