US not trying to dismantle Nato or undermine current world order, US ambassador says in response to MSC’s criticism report
US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker is responding to some of the report’s findings now, saying he “completely rejects everything I just heard,” after the Munich Security Conference report editors warned that the greatest challenge to the liberal international order is “coming from within” through the dramatic shift in the US administration’s thinking about its alliances (11:54).
But Whitaker insists the US does not want to dismantle Nato or undermine the existing alliances as implied by the report’s authors, but merely to “balance” the way the defence burden lies on different Nato countries by pushing European allies to “do more and to be capable and strong, because that strength is what guarantees the peace.”
“That’s the first thing I reject; we’re trying to make Nato stronger, not to withdraw or reject Nato, but make it work like it was intended as an alliance of 32 strong and capable allies,” he said.
Whitaker also said that on trade, the US wanted to challenge the “unfair” trade arrangement with Europe, which “turned into Europe taking advantage and running huge trade surplus with the US.”
He also said that the US was frustrated that “there is a lot of discussion and not a lot of action” in Europe, with allies spending more time to discuss issues rather than address them.
Whitaker says that on security, the European partners need to actually step up their defence spending and show they can “follow through” on their promises, including the new Nato spending targets.
He then gets pushed on Greenland, and insists the US interest in the territory is only about ensuring that Greenland – whether as part of Denmark or an independent country in the future – needs to be able to defend itself from Russia and China.
“The Chinese have taken two runs, at least at Greenland; one through the ports trying to invest in the ports and second, through trying to invest in the airport, and so these are real issues,” he claims (something that has been repeatedly questioned by the Danish officials.)
He then distances himself a bit from Trump’s aggressive rhetoric there, saying that he learned during the first Trump administration that “responding to every single Truth Social or tweet by president Trump would be a full-time job,” but insists the underlying security analysis is sound.
Key events
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French riot officers go on trial accused of beating gilets jaunes protesters
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Macron’s viral ‘fo shur’ moment ages well with ‘For Sure’ wine bottle poured at Paris trade show
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EU making slow progress to revive economy, report finds, ahead of key EU summit
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US Rubio calls for ‘humanitarian parole’ for Jimmy Lai, joining EU, UN calls after his sentencing
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US senator tells Greenlanders anxiety caused by Trump’s comments ‘hurt her heart’
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Nato’s Arctic Sentry plans intended to send clear political signal to Trump – snap analysis
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Nato looking to launch ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission in coming days to defuse tensions with Trump over Greenland, regional security
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US vice-president JD Vance visits Armenia
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Experts sound alarm over UK exports to firm linked to Russian war machine
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Russian military scrambles to find Starlink alternative after access blocked
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Whitaker’s comments on Nato, EU offer taster of what’s to come up in Munich this week – snap analysis
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EU needs to ‘simplify’ and encourage ‘risk-taking,’ US ambassador to Nato says
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US Nato ambassador rejects Zelenskyy’s suggestion of US setting deadline for peace deal on Ukraine
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US expects Europe to ‘share burden and ultimately take over conventional defence’ of European continent, US Nato ambassador says
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Ukraine ‘top of agenda,’ but Europe should focus on how to truly respond to US challenges, MSC chair says
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US not trying to dismantle Nato or undermine current world order, US ambassador says in response to MSC’s criticism report
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70 heads of state, government expected at Munich Security Conference this weekend
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Europe entering ‘prolonged era of confrontation,’ Munich report warns
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Europe’s ‘painful’ realisation it must be bolder with US set out in security report
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Norwegian ambassador resigns amid scrutiny of her family’s Epstein links
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Germany charges Ukrainian national over alleged Russian-inspired parcel bomb plot
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EU leaders send congratulations to Portugal’s president-elect Seguro
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Portugal elects socialist as president but far-right rival takes record vote share
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Media watchdog RSF says ‘outraged’ by ‘harsh’ Lai sentence
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Lai’s son warns Hong Kong court decision amounts to ‘life sentence’ as ‘time is running out’
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EU calls for ‘immediate and unconditional’ release of Jimmy Lai after his jail sentence
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Ukraine faces ‘one of most challenging electricity situations’ during war, Lviv mayor warns
French riot officers go on trial accused of beating gilets jaunes protesters
Angelique Chrisafis
in Paris
Nine officers from the French riot police have gone on trial in Paris accused of beating peaceful protesters who were sheltering from teargas during the “gilets jaunes” (yellow vests) anti-government demonstrations in 2018.
The case at Paris’s criminal court is one of the biggest trials over alleged police violence during the unrest in 2018 and 2019, when hundreds of thousands of protesters in fluorescent jackets took to the streets over rising fuel taxes in what morphed into broader anti-government protests against the president, Emmanuel Macron.
The Paris public prosecutor had requested a criminal trial, noting that some riot police officers “armed with batons and shields” had “repeatedly struck non-hostile demonstrators” who were on the ground or “trying to come out with their hands raised”.
The officers are charged with aggravated intentional violence by a person holding public authority. If found guilty they face up to seven years in prison and a €100,000 (£87,000) fine.
The accused are expected to argue that they were operating under extreme stress and “insurrectional” conditions, after hours of being targeted with projectiles by rioters.
Jakub Krupa
Staying with Macron for a second, but back to much more serious issues…
Macron’s viral ‘fo shur’ moment ages well with ‘For Sure’ wine bottle poured at Paris trade show
Jakub Krupa
Meanwhile, in somewhat lighter (depending on your palate, excuse the pun) news, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has visited a Wine Paris trade show, telling producers there that their business was a part of “France’s way of life,” AFP reported.
France’s wine sector is dealing with over-production caused by falling demand as a result of changing drinking habits, fierce competition and export difficulties.
Macron insisted that ripping up unprofitable grape vines was a necessary part of revitalising the flagging wine sector which he promised to defend.
All of that is obviously important, but the reason I’m telling you about this is because as part of his visit, he was handed a bottle labelled “For sure” with a pair of aviator sunglasses on the label – a reference to his viral look during the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.
In the Davos speech, he mounted a passionate defence of Europe’s place in the world, saying crucially that “having a place like Europe, which sometimes is too slow, for sure, and needs to be reformed, for sure, but which is predictable, loyal and when, well, you know that the rule of the game is just a rule of law, it’s a good place.”
(Although the Internet’s seemingly preferred and perhaps slightly mocking spelling of his “For sure” which went absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely viral was “Fo shur”.)
So, to brighten your day a bit, here’s president Macron with his “For sure” wine, clearly very chuffed – even as he now regrettably dropped the sunglasses from his look (as his eye infection has cleared).
EU making slow progress to revive economy, report finds, ahead of key EU summit
in Brussels
Europe is making slow progress towards reviving its weak economy, a thinktank has reported ahead of an EU summit focused on the waning economic power of the continent.
EU leaders will meet in a chateau in eastern Belgium on Thursday to discuss the “urgent strategic imperative” of strengthening the single market, as set out by the invitation letter from the European Council president, António Costa.
A few days ahead of that event the European Policy Innovation Council reports that only 15% of the recommendations made by Mario Draghi in a landmark 2024 report have been implemented. Almost two-thirds remain either in progress or have not been implemented at all, reports the FT, which has seen a copy of the thinktank’s latest analysis. EPIC’s earlier Draghi trackers are available here.
The agenda-setting report by Draghi, a former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank president, set out 383 recommendations for EU institutions and member states. Without such measures, Draghi warned the EU risked a “slow and agonising decline”.
Responding to the latest review the centrist Renew group in the European parliament lamented laggardly implementation of the Draghi agenda.
It warned there were still too many internal barriers in the EU’s single market, citing International Monetary Fund research showing EU regulatory barriers are equivalent to a 44% tariff on goods and 110% on services.
The Renew Group leaders write:
“While we are rightly horrified by the prospects of new US tariffs, we seem to be strangely complacent about the ‘internal tariffs’ we self-inflict… We are in effect sanctioning our own economy.”
The Renew group calls on EU leaders to launch an “enforcement initiative” to dismantle the barriers.
But it praised an upcoming Industrial Accelerator Act, which is expected to introduce a ‘Buy European’ preference in strategic sectors. It also reiterated support for a “28th regime” – unpublished proposals for a new set of business regulations aimed at small companies and start ups.
The plan has been welcomed by business, but opposed by trade unions, who fear it will undermine labour rights.
US Rubio calls for ‘humanitarian parole’ for Jimmy Lai, joining EU, UN calls after his sentencing
Meanwhile, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has joined the EU in calls to release Jimmy Lai after he has been jailed for 20 years in Hong Kong on national security convictions that critics say are politically motivated.
Rubio urged the authorities to grant Lai “a humanitarian parole,” saying the sentence in his case was “an unjust and tragic conclusion to this case.”
In a statement, he said:
“The Hong Kong High Court’s decision to sentence Jimmy Lai to 20 years is an unjust and tragic conclusion to this case.
It shows the world that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, casting aside the international commitments Beijing made in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.
After enduring a trial lasting two years, and detention in prison for more than five, Mr. Lai and his family have suffered enough.
The United States urges the authorities to grant Mr. Lai humanitarian parole.”
US senator tells Greenlanders anxiety caused by Trump’s comments ‘hurt her heart’
Miranda Bryant
Nordic correspondent
US senator Lisa Murkowski said “it hurts my heart” that the trust between Greenland and the US, built up since the second world war, has been broken by “just a few sentences and words”.
Addressing Greenlandic people, the senator for Alaska appeared at a press conference alongside three others from the delegation, which also included Angus King of Maine, Gary Peters of Michigan and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, that arrived in Greenland on Saturday.
Speaking in Nuuk, they appeared alongside Pipaluk Lynge and Erik Jensen, members of Greenland’s foreign and security policy committee, and the actor Viggo Mortensen, a vocal Donald Trump critic.
The visit, which saw them go to the US space base in Pituffik, meet with Greenlandic politicians and a helicopter tour of the Greenland ice sheet, comes after a US senatorial delegation visited Copenhagen last month.
Murkowski said:
“To the citizens of Greenland: It hurts my heart to know how much anxiety and worry you feel in these times of uncertainty. In just a few sentences and words, the trust that has been built since the second world war has been eroded and degraded.”
The Republican senator added:
“I want to remind you that regardless of what our president says, we have a big role in Congress. And I believe there is a common interest that we must work together on, and it begins and ends with respect and dialogue.”
She also called on other members of her party to follow her example by speaking out against Trump.
“There are some members of my party who don’t want to be seen as going against Donald Trump. But I can tell you that I have had a lot of conversations with my Republican colleagues who say, ‘There’s a red line here. We don’t take over and invade Nato allies.’”
Senator King said it had been a “very productive trip” in which they had “learned a lot”.
“The US’s security interest in Greenland does not have to mean taking over the country,” he said. “The kind of activities we have seen in recent months are unnecessary.”
Peters said: “Unfortunately, we have a president who has broken trust. That is why the four of us are here today.”
He added: “My message to the people of Greenland is: know that you have many friends in the United States.”
Nato’s Arctic Sentry plans intended to send clear political signal to Trump – snap analysis
Jakub Krupa
The proposed “Arctic Sentry” name suggests putting it on par with what the alliance did in response to growing Russian threat on the eastern flank of Nato last year, when it first launched a “Baltic sentry” mission “to strengthen the protection of critical infrastructure,” and then a separate “Eastern sentry” mission in response to Russian incursions into allied territory in Poland, Romania, and Estonia.
The political signal to the audience of one – Donald Trump in the White House – appears to be clear: the European Nato members treat it very seriously, as seriously as the Russian threat in eastern Europe, and will commit resources to strengthen the region’s security as (somewhat undiplomatically) requested (or more accurately, demanded) by the US.
Nato looking to launch ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission in coming days to defuse tensions with Trump over Greenland, regional security
In the meantime, we are getting a breaking news line from Nato that the alliance is expected to launch an Arctic Sentry mission in the coming days, five sources told Reuters.
The agency says the move hopes to boost Nato’s role in the region and defuse tensions between US president Donald Trump and European allies over Greenland.
The decision could come as early as later this week with Nato ministers meeting in Brussels on Thursday (13:17), Reuters says.
Jakub Krupa
On a separate note, can I just draw your attention to this amazing rug that they rolled out for JD Vance as he arrived at the Yerevan airport in Armenia?
I am afraid I don’t know the full story behind this (let me know if you do), but… just look at this thing!
US vice-president JD Vance visits Armenia
And, as it happens, US vice-president JD Vance is in Armenia today, as he hopes to consolidate a peace process between the country and neighbouring Azerbaijan.
AFP notes that Vance is the most senior US official ever to visit Armenia, where he is also expected to advance a flagship project to improve road-and-rail infrastructure in the region.
If the US VP reads Rob’s story below, maybe that issue will make the agenda of his talks too?
But it’s all a sign of closer ties with Armenia and the South Caucasus more broadly. You may remember that country’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan joined the recent inauguration of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, hosted in Davos.
Vance will be off to Azerbaijan next.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/feb/09/europe-eu-jimmy-lai-ukraine-russia-us-portugal-latest-news-updates
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