Europe is crying out for leadership. After years of drift, Germany is finally ready to answer | John Kampfner

Few people outside Berlin’s political bubble will have heard of Lars Klingbeil. They will soon, though, as he is about to become one of the pivotal players in the new German government. The co-leader of the Social Democratic party (SPD) captured the moment in this week’s debate in the Bundestag, one of the most important … Read more

Trump’s demand that US could take over Ukraine’s reactors is not credible | Ukraine

As a demand, it is Donald Trump at his most confusing. The American president appears, at least according to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, to have told Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday that “American ownership” of Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants would be their best protection in future – although the Ukrainian president said … Read more

Ignored by Trump and menaced by Putin, the UK turns to the EU for defensive ties | Defence policy

Donald Trump’s isolationism and Vladimir Putin’s menace leaves post-Brexit Britain in a delicate position. While the combination of US disengagement from Europe and the reality of Russian aggression has forced a reappraisal of security across the continent, Britain’s half-in, half-out status makes for complications. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, wanted to showcase Britain’s credentials as … Read more

Europe doesn’t need Trump to form a western alliance – and one is already taking shape | Martin Kettle

An Atlantic alliance without the United States? It sounds like a contradiction in terms – Hamlet without the prince. Yet this is the improbable, disjunctive world we now inhabit. It is the one in which our children and grandchildren will live their lives. Like it or not, the systemic shock launched by Donald Trump is … Read more

The Guardian view on Germany’s new coalition: unleashing the radical centre | Editorial

The first “grand coalition” government in Germany’s postwar history was formed in 1966 to address an unexpected economic downturn, amid concerns over a nascent neo-Nazi far right. Nearly six decades later, as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic party (SPD) prepare to join forces across the right-left divide for the fifth time, … Read more