New Delhi, Feb. 19 -- The Earth's core might be shifting shape invisibly, as scientists suspect, but its surface is clearly in for the seismic shock of a geopolitical rupture. This week, the US under Donald Trump sent shudders across Europe with a stern message on the latter's security.

By asking its trans-Atlantic allies to fend for themselves, America might have begun to pull the rug from under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), a steady alliance of Western countries bound by a pledge of all-for-one and one-for-all.

To the alarm of European leaders, what exactly the US shift implied was still sinking in when news broke of Washington's pursuit of direct talks with Moscow on a peace deal to end the Ukraine War. Neither Kyiv ...