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Europe has come to the painful realisation that it needs to be more assertive and more militarily independent from an authoritarian US administration that no longer shares a commitment to liberal democratic norms and values, a report prepared by the Munich Security Conference asserts.
Polling commissioned for the report shows Europeans are increasingly willing to operate without US leadership and say it is no longer necessary.
The MSC report accuses Trump of having a lust for destruction and of siding with Vladimir Putin. “Most of Europe is watching the United States’ descent into ‘competitive authoritarianism’ with rising concern or even horror, wondering how resilient US democracy really is,” the report says.
The report also suggests European leaders need to adapt to the techniques of the Trump administration and be more daring in how they make decisions and communicate. “Effectively pushing back against the demolition men requires much more political courage and innovative thought. The actors defending international rules and institutions need to be just as bold as the actors who seek to destroy them,” it says.
Europe’s ‘painful’ realisation it must be bolder with US set out in security report
The report, prepared by the Munich Security Conference, sets the scene for an all-out ideological confrontation with the Trump White House at the high-level annual meeting of security policy specialists, which starts on Friday.
Trump’s 'border czar' warned deportations should be targeted to ‘keep faith of American people’
Tom Homan – the Trump administration’s “border czar” sent to Minnesota in January after federal agents fatally shot two US citizen protesters – warned last year that the government’s aggressive, widespread approach to immigration enforcement would cost it public support.
Jamie Raskin accuses DoJ of cover-up after viewing unredacted Epstein files
A top House Democrat on Monday accused the justice department of making “mysterious redactions” to documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that obscured the names of abusers, while also allowing the identities of the disgraced financier’s victims to become public.
RFK Jr misled Senate during confirmation, Congress members and Hawaii governor say
Three members of Congress say the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, lied during his Senate confirmation hearings in response to newly revealed emails that undermine his testimony that a trip he took to Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak had “nothing to do with vaccines”.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s refusal to answer questions before Congress draws criticism
Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer questions during a closed-door congressional deposition on Monday, prompting criticism from a House representative backing efforts to release Jeffrey Epstein investigative files.
“Who is she protecting?” Robert Garcia, Democratic senator and ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, said in a statement. “And we need to know why she’s been given special treatment at a low security prison by the Trump administration. We are going to end this White House cover-up.”
Melania drops 67% at US box office as Rotten Tomatoes defends record-breaking audience scores
Melania, Brett Ratner’s authorised documentary following the first lady in the 20 days preceding Donald Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, has dipped 67% in its second week of release in the US.
Files cast light on Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to cryptocurrency
Millions of files related to Jeffrey Epstein have brought to light his ties to the highest echelons of the cryptocurrency industry.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on Sunday 8 February.
