How Trump's world order hangs over Europe | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News Podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. And. today we're looking at global security, a year on from that speech at the Munich. conference by the US Vice President J.D. Vance. We're joined by our diplomatic. correspondent James Landale. And James, J.D. Vance really lashed out at Europe. that day. Remind us of how that speech. went down and what it signaled about the. new Trump administration's view of the. world. Basically, J.D. Vance, the US Vice.

President, sort of landed in, if I can. use a rugby metaphor, with both both. boots studs on, straight into the. Europeans. And essentially launched a. strong ideological attack, which was. essentially saying, "Look, you. Europeans, you're wrong on on freedom of. speech. You know, you're suppressing. freedom of speech. You're controlling. the big tech companies. You are opening. your borders too much to uncontrolled. migration. And as a result, you are. threatening your own cultures." So, in.

other words, his argument there was not the usual one. of, "Look, Europe, can you spend more on. your own defense? Can you do a little. bit more to be more self-sufficient and. less reliant on the United States?" It. was essentially saying, "You guys are. governing wrong. You're making the wrong. choices. And ultimately, you're. threatening the civilization from which. the United States originally emerged.". So, it absolutely shocked the people who.

were at Munich. A year on, a lot has. happened. Take us through some of the. most. >> [laughter]. >> Take us through some of the most. significant moments. Well, I mean, it's. it's it has just been non-stop. I mean, uh and and the thing is is that there. are some things that we think about we. can remember cuz they're relatively. recent. So, like this year, we've had. the US attack on Venezuela uh and the. removal of of the leadership there. We've had um. Donald Trump's threat of military action. against Greenland to take over that.

We've now had more discussions and the. build-up of US forces off the coast of. Iran. So that's just a bit of this year, but if you think about last year. you know, we've had. and obviously this time last year was. dominated by. President Trump's attack on President. Zelensky of Ukraine in the Oval Office. and everything that fell from that. You. know, the Americans withholding military. support. and then.

repairing the relationship a mineral. deal that evolves slowly but surely into. talks. So there's been a whole kind of. sort of Ukraine strand. Remember the. military confrontation between Pakistan. and India. last May where you know, both of these. are two you know, suspected nuclear. powers lobbing missiles at each other. You know, it was it was a very serious. moment. You've got Trump's trade wars. obviously underlining a lot of that. You've got the developments in Gaza with. the Americans finally and the others.

forcing an element of. some sort of change of the status quo, the acceptance of the first stage in. part of a a peace negotiation. As well as that, you know, more civil. war in Sudan at huge cost. In a way that. many in the West. sort of ignored. So I mean there's a. sort of constant list of events that has. just sort of you know, it shocked us. It. shocked audiences and. you know, it's taken a lot of policy. makers by surprise. You mentioned that.

list by J.D. Vance of cultural issues. that he wasn't happy about, but the. Americans also did want the Europeans to. do more for security. Did they have a. point there? Oh yeah, no I think they. have had a point and that and you know, successive American administrations. going back a long time. You know, Eisenhower was first talking about this. after the war. So this is not a new. argument, but I think it was one that. was. offered by the Americans under Trump, too, you know, with greater force and. greater power. Um,

the thing is, the Europeans have. accepted that. They now accept that. principle. They have started spending. more on defense. Not enough in the view. of the Americans, not enough in the view. um of some members of of Europe who. think that, you know, there there's. still some countries, particularly, you. know, closer to the Mediterranean that. are are lagging their feet. Um, but. certainly there is an an awareness now. and a realization within Europe. uh that things have to change, that they. can no longer hide or rely upon the US.

security umbrella in a way they always. have done. That doesn't mean sort of, you know, leaving like chucking, you. know, the baby out with the bathwater, but it does mean thinking, how do. European countries. shore up their own defenses, cooperate. more amongst themselves to do that. >> Of course, it's not just Europe feeling. the heat. What about other countries. like Canada? The Canadians uh have at. various stages clashed with the. Americans, particularly between um. uh Prime Minister Carney, um who's. obviously a new leader uh for the.

Canadians, um with the Donald Trump. So, that has. been uh fairly up-and-down relationship. What's been interesting is the way that. Carney has begun to sort of carve out a. little role for himself. Uh not necessarily as the leader of the. sort of anti-Trump group, cuz I think he. would he would dispute that. But he is. certainly now saying, this is how other. countries like Canada, like the UK, like. middle powers. can think about doing things slightly.

differently. Instead of just hanging on. every Truth Social that Donald Trump. puts out, we need to organize ourselves and we. need to cooperate better ourselves so. that you can say, let's have an ad hoc, you know, whether you're talking about. AI, uh sharing of biotech, or um. uh military issues or whatever it is. Just saying, "Look, let's have ad hoc. relationships, partnerships, that form a. new kind of way of cooperating that. isn't just um dependent on, you know,

what the United States says." Talking of. truth socials, it's not just rhetoric. The US has written all this down in its. new security strategy. How much. difference does that make? I think it's. a very significant document because. essentially it sets out uh in cold print. Donald Trump's instincts that are also. instincts now of the American system. In. other words, it sort of say, "Look, this. is not just a Trump issue. This is going. to outlast Trump and is is is now the US. position." Which is essentially.

in many ways a retreat back into the old. position of the Monroe Doctrine of. saying the United States is only going. to be concerned about its own affairs, its own region in the world, which they. call the Western Hemisphere. So, that's. why Donald Trump feels able to, in his. mind, to conduct [clears throat] military. action against Venezuela in breach of. international law. That's why he thinks. it's perfectly acceptable to threaten. military action against Greenland cuz he. considers both those countries to be.

part of the US Hemisphere. uh over which the US feels it has a uh. national security right to do as it. pleases. Uh so, that's the drive of the. security um document that the the. strategy that's been set out. The other. side of it though was also it set out in. very, very cold print America's view of. Europe and basically saying, you know, "You guys have to be more concerned. about your own security. We're focused. on, you know, on the United States with. one eye, of course, to China.

um with a with an echo of where we began. with J.D. Vance in Munich. This document. warned that if Europe carried on its. current uh path, it would face what what. they called civilizational erasure, which again infuriated the Europeans. because they obviously disagree very. strongly. Yeah, on top of this change in. strategy, you've also got this strange. relationship between Presidents Trump. and Putin. What does all this mean for. for Russia's place in the world? Well, for the Russians it's been.

an uncertain. slightly discombobulating period because. the Americans have blown hot and cold. On the one hand, Donald Trump has made. it very clear that he wants that US and. Russia relations to be normalized. He. talks constantly of the economic gains. that he believes that can be gained from. that. But on Ukraine, which is obviously the. main point of focus, the Americans have blown hot and cold. And sometimes they are very supportive. of the Russians and very critical of the.

Ukrainians and they accuse the. Ukrainians of being the people who are. holding up peace when, you know, it's clearly the Russians because they. are the aggressors here. On other. occasions though, Donald Trump has. expressed and voiced his own frustration. at his inability to get Vladimir Putin. to change his mind on Ukraine. And and. thus far, you know, as somebody who. watched this quite closely and spent a. fair amount of time in Ukraine, I have. yet to see any evidence that the. Russians genuinely want there to be. peace. And that at the moment, they, the.

Russian side, believes that there are. greater gains to be made by continuing. to prosecute this war. And that does. cause some frustration within the White. House. So, one year into the second. Trump presidency, is the world safer or. more dangerous? I think. the world is. is safer in as much that it is adapting. It's learning to get used to this new. new system. But on the other hand, it is.

more dangerous because there are more. moving parts. There are fewer norms. There are there are fewer rules. It may. be that we reach at some point a new. order where there are different rules, but at the moment countries are very. uncertain. uh about what these rules are. They're. trying to navigate. uh and for many of them it's very very. hard. I expend a lot of my time talking. to diplomats and I met one of them. yesterday who was the head of a of a. very significant middle power government.

who just said, "James, it's it's the law. of the jungle and we're all trying to. work out how to navigate through it.". James Landale, our diplomatic. correspondent. Thank you. If you liked this episode, please uh. subscribe on YouTube. If there's. anything you'd like us to cover, leave a. comment below. And for more. international stories, download the. Global News Podcast wherever you get. your BBC podcasts.