{"id":76299,"date":"2026-02-09T21:23:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T12:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/live\/2026\/feb\/09\/europe-eu-jimmy-lai-ukraine-russia-us-portugal-latest-news-updates"},"modified":"2026-02-10T02:02:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T17:02:34","slug":"us-not-trying-to-dismantle-nato-or-undermine-world-order-says-ambassador-europe-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=76299","title":{"rendered":"US not trying to dismantle Nato or undermine world order, says ambassador \u2013 as it happened"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, responds to criticism in the Munich Security Conference report<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/feb\/09\/jimmy-lai-sentencing-china-hong-kong-pro-democracy-businessman\">Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison for national security offences<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In its <a href=\"https:\/\/securityconference.org\/en\/publications\/munich-security-report\/2026\/europe\/\">section on Europe<\/a>, <strong>the Munich Security Conference report<\/strong> has also <strong>warned that the continent was entering \u201ca prolonged era of confrontation,<\/strong> as Russia\u2019s full-scale war of aggression and expanding hybrid campaign dismantle the remnants of the post-cold war cooperative security order.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It also added that:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<strong>Washington\u2019s gradual retreat from its traditional role as Europe\u2019s primary security guarantor<\/strong> \u2013 reflected in wavering support for Ukraine and threatening rhetoric on Greenland \u2013 <strong>is heightening Europe\u2019s sense of insecurity and exposing its unfinished transition from security consumer to security provider.<\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAnalysts widely view these operations as <strong>deliberate efforts by Moscow to probe Europe\u2019s defences, sow division, intimidate publics, and weaken support for Ukraine<\/strong> by diverting attention toward domestic security.<strong><sup> <\/sup><\/strong>Europe now faces the challenge of proactively deterring further provocations while avoiding inadvertent escalation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<strong>European leaders have long refrained from overt criticism of US policies<\/strong>. Instead, they have pursued a dual strategy: striving to keep Washington engaged at almost any cost while cautiously preparing for greater autonomy. \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Recent confrontations over Greenland, in turn, suggest that Europe\u2019s strategy of accommodation may be reaching its limits.<\/strong>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cGiven the urgency of these tasks and the limits of consensus-based decision-making, <strong>progress will depend on courageous leadership coalitions.<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Smaller avant-gardes, such as <strong>the Weimar Plus countries (France, Germany, Poland, and the UK) or the European Group of Five (the former plus Italy), will be essential to drive defense industrial consolidation,<\/strong> articulate a coherent European vision for Ukraine, and prepare the EU for enlargement. These steps will involve sharing costs and political risk. <\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/live\/2026\/feb\/09\/europe-eu-jimmy-lai-ukraine-russia-us-portugal-latest-news-updates\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, responds to criticism in the Munich Security Conference reportJimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in prison for national security offencesIn its section on Europe, the Munich Security Conference report has also &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4686,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50,221,48,3034,1226,419,930,3168,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-europe","category-hong-kong","category-jimmy-lai","category-portugal","category-russia","category-ukraine","category-volodymyr-zelenskyy","category-world-news"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76308,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76299\/revisions\/76308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}