Trump Is Rushing Toward a Deal With Putin, Leaving Europe in the Dust
JD Vance’s broadside in Munich shocked European leaders. European powers are struggling to forge a response to Trump | The groans and the anxious side glances gave way to silence as Vice President JD Vance took center stage in Munich to pour contempt on longstanding US allies and cut Europe down to size. ● It was an attack of unbridled ferocity in the name of free speech that laid bare the long-stewing hostility that Donald Trump and his most senior aides feel for the European Union — they see the bloc as a symbol of big government that constrains US companies. ● But as European diplomats from Berlin to London pick through the rubble of the transatlantic relationship, the reality is that the continent has had eight years since Trump’s last election victory to get its house in order and three since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The wake-up call was a long time coming. ● “This is existential,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where Vance had been speaking.
■ Putin-Trump summit expected this month – Bloomberg (RT)
■ No place for EU in Ukraine talks – Trump envoy (RT)
✅ Trump strangles Europe (Zachary Basu)
✅ Trump roars back into office: Why US vassals are panicking (Rachel Marsden)