People's initial reaction was fear. After all, we've been living in close friendship with our American neighbors here for 80 years. They feel at home here, far from their homeland. The Americans are integrated into our social life, in soccer and music clubs. Many even stay here after they retire.
Europe must prepare for sudden vulnerability gaps if the fickle US president decides to pull out key military enablers before Europeans can develop their own alternatives. European countries have already taken over financial and political responsibility for supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Vladimir Putin's war of aggression, as Trump has increasingly sided with Moscow in trying to force Kyiv to hand over swathes of territory to Russia.
The United States has started withdrawing from a key military base in northeastern Syria and redeploying its forces to northern Iraq, marking the first phase of a pullout expected to last several weeks. Heavy machinery, personnel and trucks carrying armoured vehicles could be seen moving on Monday in the northwestern city of Hasakah from the Qasrak base, the largest US base in Syria. They were headed towards the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.