The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
Associated Press
FILE – Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov adjusts the glasses during his news conference at the time of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Ministerial Council meeting, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Dec. 1, 2023. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the West African nation of Guinea on Monday, according to official statements, kicking off a tour of the troubled region that has seen several countries scale back long-standing ties with former colonial power France and turned to Russia for security support instead...
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
Associated Press
FILE – Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov adjusts the glasses during his news conference at the time of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Ministerial Council meeting, in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Dec. 1, 2023. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in the West African nation of Guinea on Monday, according to official statements, kicking off a tour of the troubled region that has seen several countries scale back long-standing ties with former colonial power France and turned to Russia for security support instead. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski, File)
Like most Americans, I have little patience for the pageantry of cocktail diplomacy — the polite applause, the self-congratulation in tailored suits, and the moral confusion that masquerades as consensus. I abhor the bureaucratic posturing and wasteful spending of the multilateral institutions they serve. Too often, they serve as echo chambers for indecision rather than engines of deterrence.
This week, the 32nd Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe met in Vienna, but the U.S. ambassador’s seat sat empty.
The administration is right to distrust bloated bureaucracies, but skepticism is not a strategy. Walking away from these institutions doesn’t punish our enemies, it rewards them. It hands them the microphone and lets them tell their story while we sit in silence.
There is a seductive idea circulating in global affairs that the world has become “multipolar,” that balance, not leadership, is the natural order. But a multipolar world is not a peaceful one, it is a contested one, where tyrants and terrorists will jockey to fill the vacuum left by American disengagement. The notion that America can shrink its footprint and somehow preserve its influence is a fantasy history has repeatedly disproved. Simply, our withdrawal invites disorder and our leadership restores it.
For all its flaws, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe remains one of the few international mechanisms where Russia is present but China is not. That distinction alone makes it strategically indispensable, allowing Washington to engage Moscow directly without the distraction of Beijing’s growing shadow. And it does so at an extraordinary return on investment: Europe contributes roughly eight dollars for every one the United States spends, yet Washington retains disproportionate influence. For less than two-thousandths of 1 percent of the federal budget, America guides how European and Eurasian security is defined.
If America doesn’t lead in that room, others will. And when they do, they will define the story of the war in Ukraine, the meaning of freedom and the shape of the Western order itself. America should never forfeit the field.
Ambassadorships must serve as instruments of power. Under many past presidents we embraced the “fortress embassy” model, physically retreating by moving our embassies outside of city centers. Done in the name of security, symbolically and strategically, this withdrawal distanced America from the heart of influence. China did the opposite: it moved in, closer, bolder, more visible.
President Trump, ever the realist, understands what every real estate magnate knows: location is leverage. Presence is power. If we cannot move our buildings, we must bring our people.
Properly understood, an America First approach to this organization begins with realism about its core strengths: upholding sovereignty, enhancing border stability, and preventing coercion. In these areas, American interests and its founding purpose converge, making engagement a rejection of globalism, not a reflection of it.
Across the Caucasus, the Balkans, and Central Asia, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe remains one of the few mechanisms capable of preventing conflict through on-the-ground presence, election observation, and confidence-building measures. These regions are contested spaces where Russian propaganda is active, Chinese influence is rising, and the future of the Euro-Atlantic order is being tested. America First doesn’t mean standing apart — it means standing above, leading on our terms and in our interest. This administration should take the opportunity offered by engagement at the organization and use it to advance America’s interests.
Across the 57 member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, there are nations still open to persuasion. They are watching, listening and deciding which side projects greater confidence and moral clarity. Washington must step up, lead again, and reclaim the narrative.
The alternative is a world managed by Moscow and Beijing.
Meaghan Mobbs, Ph.D., is director of the Center for American Safety and Security at Independent Women and president of the R.T. Weatherman Foundation. She also serves as a presidential appointee to the United States Military Academy Board of Visitors.
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