JRL NEWSWATCH: “As Putin Threatens, Despair and Hedging in Europe” – New York Times

“There is a dawning recognition that the continent urgently needs to step up its own defense, especially as the U.S. wavers, but the commitments still are not coming.”

“… In Munich, the mood was both anxious and unmoored, as leaders faced confrontations they had not anticipated. Warnings about [] Putin’s possible next moves were mixed with Europe’s growing worries that it could soon be abandoned by the United States, the one power that has been at the core of its defense strategy for 75 years. Barely an hour went by at the Munich Security Conference in which the conversation did not turn to the question of whether Congress would fail to find a way to fund new arms for Ukraine, and if so, how long the Ukrainians could hold out.  … [W]hile Donald Trump’s name was rarely mentioned, the prospect of whether he would make good on his threats to pull out of NATO and let Russia ‘do whatever the hell they want’ with allies he judged insufficient hung over much of the dialogue. European leaders seemed to also sense how slowly they had reacted to … new realities. European plans to rebuild their own forces for a new era of confrontation were moving in the right direction, leader after leader insisted, but then they added it would take five years or more — time they may not have if Russia overwhelms Ukraine and [] Trump undermines the alliance. …”

Click here for: “As Putin Threatens, Despair and Hedging in Europe; There is a dawning recognition that the continent urgently needs to step up its own defense, especially as the U.S. wavers, but the commitments still are not coming.” – New York Times: David E. Sanger, Steven Erlanger