1 GLOBAL SECURITY
Munich conference report raises alarm over Trump
The world has entered a new era marked by zero-sum thinking in which countries seek relative advantage through protectionism, self-interest and rejection of mutually beneficial cooperation, a report from the Munich Security Conference suggests before its annual meeting at the weekend.
The MSC attracts a host of world leaders and will this year see discussions about the Middle East crisis and the implications of a victory for Donald Trump for transatlantic security.
The report identifies a trend towards narrow, short-term gains. Its publication came days after Trump claimed at a rally on Saturday that he had told Nato allies he would “encourage” Russia to attack any member state that failed to meet a defence spending target of 2% of GDP.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Trump’s comments undermined “all of our security, including that of the US”, and the White House described them as “appalling and unhinged”. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on Monday said: “Nato cannot be an a la carte military alliance … depending on the humour of the [US] president.”
Spotlight Page 23 →
2 RUSSIA
Putin gives first interview with west to ex-Fox reporter
Vladimir Putin gave his first interview with a western media outlet since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The decision by Trump-supporting, rightwing commentator Tucker Carlson to talk to Putin was widely criticised.
During the rambling, two-hour discourse, filmed in Moscow and posted on X,
