European papers express deep alarm at declaration of an \u2018ideological war\u2019, while the NYT says Putin may soon \u2018realise his dream\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year\u2019s Munich security conference exposed the chasm in core values<\/a> separating the Trump administration from most Europeans and sparked deep alarm at US efforts to control the Ukraine peace process and exclude<\/a> European governments from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is what some of the main European and US newspapers had to say about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through JD Vance, its vice-president, the US has \u201cdeclared ideological war on Europe\u201d<\/a>,\u2002<\/a>wrote Sylvie Kauffmann for the French title. If Vladimir Putin turned on the US in a famous 2007 speech at the conference, in 2025 it was the US that turned on Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a \u201cvirulent diatribe against European democracies he accused of stifling freedom of speech and religion\u201d, Vance said the greatest threat to the continent was not Russia<\/a> or China but Europe\u2019s own retreat from some of its \u201cmost fundamental values\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Worse, his relative silence on \u201cthe topic Europe most wanted to hear him on\u201d, Russia\u2019s all-out invasion of Ukraine<\/a>, \u201cprolongs the incomprehension and confusion over Trump\u2019s initiative aimed at ending the war\u201d, Kauffmann said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA thick fog now surrounds Washington\u2019s intentions; between the public statements of Vance and the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the various interviews followed by denials, contradictory positions have multiplied,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US administration had done nothing less than \u201coffer what may be a preview under Mr Trump of a redefinition of a transatlantic relationship built on postwar bonds of stability between allied governments\u201d, the paper said<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It too reminded readers<\/a> of Putin\u2019s 2007 speech in which the Russian president \u201cdemanded the rollback of American influence and a new balance of power in Europe more suitable to Moscow\u201d, adding that he \u201cdidn\u2019t get what he wanted \u2013 then\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, top Trump officials had \u201cmade one thing clear: Putin has found an American administration that might help him realise his dream\u201d. The comments raised fears the US may now \u201calign with Russia and either assail Europe or abandon it altogether\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such a shift, the paper said, would amount to \u201ca previously unthinkable victory far more momentous for [Putin] than any objectives in Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commentator Daniel Br\u00f6ssler said<\/a> in the Munich-based S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung that Vance had not come to the German city to give \u201ca friendly wake-up call\u201d, but as \u201can arsonist\u201d. The US vice-president\u2019s mission was \u201cthe triumph of rightwing populism \u2013 with the backing of America\u2019s billionaire chief Elon Musk\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His silence on security policy was because \u201cwork has already begun on a deal with Putin at the expense of Ukraine, but also of Europe \u2026 This much is clear: Trump will make the deal, and the Europeans will have to pay and secure peace militarily.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Europe, Br\u00f6ssler said, was being attacked \u201cby Putin, who has come a good deal closer to his goal of revising the European order in recent days. And by Trump, who no longer even recognises common interests \u2013 and certainly not common values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the one hand, the US \u201cis demanding Europe finally become capable of defending itself against Russia. On the other, it is backing Putin\u2019s henchmen and appeasers\u201d, from Hungary\u2019s prime minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, to the Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland co-leader Alice Weidel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The continent, he said, \u201cwill have to rise above itself\u201d. Editorialist Detlef Essinger said<\/a> Vance had deployed \u201ca trick that populists and authoritarians have used for years \u2026 The principle is: accuse others of exactly everything that you do yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This \u201cconfuses them. It puts you on the offensive, and your opponents on the defensive. It gives you sovereignty over the terms. And a debate is not won by the person who has the better arguments, but by the person who owns the terms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe US administration is ready to hand Russia a win in its brutal war against Ukraine. That\u2019s the only conclusion we can make,\u201d the paper said in a blunt editorial<\/a>. The words and acts of Trump and his team go \u201cbeyond appeasement\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, it added, while the US may be \u201cthe biggest and richest ally Ukraine has\u201d, it is far from the only one: \u201cThat means all eyes are on you, Europe. The real decision on whether Russia wins the war doesn\u2019t actually sit with Trump now \u2013 it\u2019s with Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Europe\u2019s leaders, if they are \u201creal leaders of their nations and not political opportunists, need to recognise the urgency of the situation, and act now. After all, if the US is out and Ukraine falls, Europe will be left to face Russia one on one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia, the paper said, \u201cis not at war with Ukraine, it\u2019s at war with the west. And if a significant part of the west deserts, the rest needs to make sure to show up for battle.\u201d Nobody, it said, wanted the war to end more than Ukrainians do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut we understand that any compromise with Russia won\u2019t be the end of the war. There can\u2019t be a compromise in this war. Russia wins \u2013 the west loses. The west wins \u2013 Russia loses. Europe, the time is now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nLe Monde<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
New York Times<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Kyiv Independent<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n