Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

hap, The world sees Trump threatening long-held alliances. You
helped elect him. You are applauding his trashing of friendships:

UK has fingers in its ears over Trump’s defense threat
Britain’s political leaders are refusing to engage with suggestions that the country’s security calculation might be changing.
[...]
The review will have to address the implications of Donald Trump’s message that he wants to pull back from the United States' role in defending Europe — an uncomfortable shift in a relationship long seen as a cornerstone of British security.
[...]
Future risks

Trump’s cooling on U.S. involvement in Europe presents an additional strategic risk for NATO allies.

Witney, currently a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there is a lack of direction when it comes to identifying where Western countries need to beef up key capabilities.

“With the Americans having one foot out of the door, everybody is saying ‘we must take more responsibility’ but there just is no forum,” he argued. “It’s very hard to see where the sensible, collaborative, pooled efforts can come from if we haven't even got a way of working out together where our priorities lie.”

While a host of European countries including the U.K. have announced a boost to defense spending, it may be easier to raise the overall envelope than to take coordinated decisions on where to actually direct it.

Joint initiatives have been in short supply beyond the European Long-Range Strike Approach — and U.K. access to an EU defense fund is out of reach for now.

If this remains the case, the U.K. and its continental allies may struggle to meet the challenge that underpins the entire SDR: how to protect against Russian aggression in a world where America is moving on.

https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-trumps-defense-threat-strategic-defense-ukraine-russia-war-nato-starmer-europe/

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‘We’ll determine our defence policy’: Albanese responds to US push for huge rise in spending as Hegseth stokes China fears
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/01/anthony-albanese-responds-to-us-pete-hegseth-push-for-huge-rise-in-defence-spending-as-it-stokes-china-fears

Obama started pushing Europe. Bush continued it. Trump accelerated it. Period. Good to see you at least paying some attention.