Trump Is Abandoning Democracy and Freedom. That Creates an Opening for Europe – and Britain

THE GUARDIAN — OPINION: Whether it’s sweeping up disgruntled US scientists or rejoining the EU, a bold Starmer must capitalise on Trump’s extremism

Thanks to Donald Trump, a vacancy is opening up in the international jobs market. For decades, if not centuries, and always imperfectly, the US offered itself to the world as the guarantor of democracy and the land of the free. Now that it’s pivoting away from that job description, there’s an opportunity for someone else to step in.

The evidence that the US is moving, even galloping, away from basic notions of democracy and freedom is piling up. Just because the changes have happened so fast doesn’t make them any less fundamental. We now have a US administration that blithely ignores court rulings, whose officials say out loud “I don’t care what the judges think”. In a matter of weeks, it has become an open question whether the US remains a society governed by the rule of law. » | Jonathan Freedland | Friday, March 21, 2025

Europe Prepares for ‘Imminent War’ with Putin as Trump Deemed Unreliable | Robert Fox

Mar 21, 2025 | “We are in an imminent, if not actual, state of war.”

Keir Starmer has realised that Europe must step up to combat “Trump’s unpredictability” as the Ukraine-Russia war escalates, says The London Standard’s Robert Fox.

Can Germany and France Unite to Strengthen Western Democracies? | Berlin Briefing Podcast

Mar 21, 2025 | Donald Trump is rapidly reshaping the relationship with America’s allies. Will Trump’s policies push EU states to finally speak with one voice? Why should anyone who cares about democracy be paying close attention to the relationship between Germany and France? Why is Germany tightening its travel advice for the US? And what does the Statue of Liberty have to do with it all? In this episode of Berlin Briefing, DW’s Nina Haase discusses the future of Franco-German relations with her guests Max Hofmann, head of News and Current Affairs at DW, and Jacob Ross, a research fellow at DGAP.

Europeans should dump Trump and turn their backs on the US. Trump thinks he’s making America great again, but in fact he’s destroying it. – © Mark Alexander

Trump ‘Respects’ Russia and Is Tired of Europe | Former Russian MP

Mar 20, 2025 | “Europe's overestimated might and arrogance is built by American money and Russian gas.”

President Trump is reviving the Monroe Doctrine and retuning the world order to the 19th century, says former vice chairman of foreign relations in the Russian parliament, Natalya Narochnitskaya.

Putin Will Be ‘Stopped in His Tracks’ by a Unified Europe | World in 10

Mar 19, 2025 | “It's absolutely the time for the coalition of the willing… to step up and really show its metal.”

The military might of the coalition of the willing will stop Putin “in his tracks” as long as it is unified in its defence of Ukraine, says former British Army Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

Ursula von der Leyen's Urgent Call: Europe Must Prepare for War to Secure Peace! Historic Speech

Mar 18, 2025 | In a powerful address at the Royal Danish Military Academy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized the pressing need for Europe to bolster its defense capabilities. Highlighting the resurgence of global threats and the end of the "peace dividend" era, she declared, "If Europe wants to avoid war, Europe must get ready for war." Von der Leyen outlined the 'Readiness 2030' roadmap, aiming for a robust European defense posture by 2030, with increased defense spending, joint procurement initiatives, and strengthened support for Ukraine. She stressed the importance of a united and prepared Europe to deter aggression and maintain sovereignty.

Canada, Europe Planning Defense 'without US at the Centre' for First Time since WWII • FRANCE 24

Mar 17, 2025 | Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday warned his country must reduce its reliance on the United States and would turn towards its "reliable" European allies instead on his first trip abroad. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Scott Lucas, Professor of US and International Politics at the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin. He says that for the first time since WWII Canada and Europe are planning for defense 'without assuming the US is at the center of it'.

THE NEW YORK TIMES:

‘Most European Non-European Country’: Canada Turns to Allies as Trump Threatens: Days after becoming prime minister, Mark Carney visited Paris and London to highlight deep European friendships as his country fights back against President Trump’s tariffs and annexation talk. »

JD Vance: Europe Is Teetering on ‘Civilizational Suicide’

Mar 15, 2025 | Vice President JD Vance elaborates on U.S. relations with European nations and more during an exclusive interview on ‘The Ingraham Angle.

It’s a bit rich for this dude to tell Europeans anything about free speech when people are being arrested and deported in the States for things they have said or written. Indeed, some are also being sent to camps that resemble concentration camps for doing things or saying things that displease the country’s Führer!

Europe needs no lectures from Vance on anything. He’d be better off keeping quiet and going to find a mirror to put his eyeliner on! – © Mark Alexander

Adam Boulton said that JD Vance "is a piece of sh*t” »

Too Hard to Swallow? Why Trump's Proposed Tariffs on European Wine Could Crush the EU Wine Industry

Mar 14, 2025 | US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 200% tariffs on European wine. This comes after the EU retaliated against US duties on European steel and aluminum. As a top wine producer, France is particularly vulnerable to the latest levies.

Former Kremlin Advisor Says 'Best Possible Outcome Is Ukraine’s Total Capitulation' | BBC News

Mar 14, 2025 | While US President Donald Trump pushes Russia and Ukraine for a ceasefire, influential voices in Moscow are calling on the Russian authorities to adopt a hard line.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested he is ready for a halt in fighting but says "there are nuances" - which he laid out talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin on Thursday.

From the start of this war, Putin has demanded the "demilitarisation" of Ukraine, which is anathema to Kyiv and its allies.

The BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg has been speaking to political scientist and former Kremlin advisor Sergey Karaganov.

Out of Putin’s War and Trump’s Treachery, a New Europe Is Being Born

THE GUARDIAN: The EU has its Trojan horses and Nato’s cornerstone has crumbled. But European allies, including the UK, are bound by an urgent shared purpose

Moscow’s immense military mobilisation is clearly not aimed just at Ukraine. Unless Vladimir Putin accepts a ceasefire with meaningful security guarantees there will be no end in sight to the war. If anything, we could see the extension of Russia’s aggression beyond Ukraine. The bleak reality is that Europe still faces an unprecedented threat and notwithstanding signs of progress for Ukraine at talks in Jeddah, we face it alone.

Worse, we now have to confront it with the US working against us. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump appear to share a plan: a Vichy-like regime in Ukraine and a European continent split into spheres of influence, which Russia, the US (and perhaps China) can colonise and prey upon. Most European publics sense this. A critical mass of European leaders gets it too. They are beginning to act. » | Nathalie Tocci | Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Trump 'Can't Afford' to Hand Putin Victory in Ukraine

Mar 9, 2025 | "If there is going to be a ceasefire, some kind of, deal in Ukraine, then it's going to be hard to put together and it is going to take, really careful diplomacy to do that."

Donald Trump cannot afford to hand Putin soem from of victory in Urkaine as Republicans are still concerned about European security says Mark Sedwill former UK National Security Adviser.

Comment l’Europe se prépare à la guerre face à la Russie

Mar 9, 2025 | Dans l’ombre de la guerre menée par la Russie de Poutine face à l'Ukraine, une ligne de front invisible se dessine en Europe. De l’Estonie au cercle arctique norvégien, nous avons rencontré des militaires de haut rang et filmé la guerre hybride déjà réelle aux frontières nord de notre continent.

Moscou teste depuis des années les défenses de ses voisins européens. Exercices militaires spectaculaires, cyberattaques massives, bateaux espions… Les pays baltes et nordiques savent que la pression monte. Jusqu’où ? Et comment y résister ?

Pour ce documentaire, l'équipe vidéo du "Monde" a parcouru cette frontière européenne à haut risque, au contact de responsables militaires et de spécialistes en renseignement de haut rang. Nos caméras ont été autorisées à filmer des entraînements en Finlande, un test de cyberattaque de l’OTAN, une opération de contre-espionnage dans le cercle arctique norvégien…

'Europe Should Tell Donald Trump to Back Off' | LBC

Mar 8, 2025 | Caller Kerrie says the US president is 'completely out of control' when it comes to his stance on Russia-Ukraine.

Why the US and Europe Are Battling for Greenland’s Future | Mapped Out

Mar 8, 2025 | Greenland finds itself at the center of a lot of geopolitical attention. US President Donald Trump’s push to control it has sparked tension with NATO ally Denmark and reinforced Europe’s growing wariness that the US is no longer interested in their security. But why is the world suddenly so interested in this remote island in the far north? And what do the people in Greenland want for their own future?

This Is Why Trump Has Betrayed Europe

May 7, 2025

'The Danger We Face from Trump and Putin Might Finally Force Europe to Unite' • FRANCE 24 English

Mar 7, 2025 | European leaders have backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump's reversal of US foreign policy amid his abrupt pivot towards Russia. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on the widening rift between the US and their closest Western allies, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen welcomes Quentin Peel, an independent journalist and an Associate Fellow with the Europe Programme at Chatham House in London.

Russia Says Sending European Peacekeepers to Ukraine Would Be “Act of War” | BBC News

Mar 6, 2025 | President Putin has said that Russia will not retreat from Ukraine or “give away anything that belongs to us”. He made the comments while meeting widows and mothers of Russian soldiers killed in the Ukraine War.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Moscow would regard the deployment of any European peacekeeping force in Ukraine as an act of war. He said it would be an escalation of what he called NATO's war against Russia.

It comes as European countries step up defence spending and seek to build a “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Steve Rosenberg in Moscow.

A World without American Leadership’: Top Allies Scaling Back Intelligence Sharing with America

Mar 6, 2025 | John Brennan, Former CIA Director and Courtney Kube, NBC News Pentagon Correspondent join Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House with reaction to the shifting levels of trust in America’s allies with the Trump Administration, with alliances that took decades to build now on a breaking point, with some of the “Five Eyes” having discussions about scaling back the information that they share with the United States.

Trump Is Putin’s 'Useful Idiot', Proving the US Can No Longer Be Trusted | World in 10

Mar 4, 2025