US not trying to dismantle Nato or undermine current world order, US ambassador says in response to MSC’s criticism report
US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker is responding to some of the report’s findings now, saying he “completely rejects everything I just heard,” after the Munich Security Conference report editors warned that the greatest challenge to the liberal international order is “coming from within” through the dramatic shift in the US administration’s thinking about its alliances (11:54).
But Whitaker insists the US does not want to dismantle Nato or undermine the existing alliances as implied by the report’s authors, but merely to “balance” the way the defence burden lies on different Nato countries by pushing European allies to “do more and to be capable and strong, because that strength is what guarantees the peace.”
“That’s the first thing I reject; we’re trying to make Nato stronger, not to withdraw or reject Nato, but make it work like it was intended as an alliance of 32 strong and capable allies,” he said.
Whitaker also said that on trade, the US wanted to challenge the “unfair” trade arrangement with Europe, which “turned into Europe taking advantage and running huge trade surplus with the US.”
He also said that the US was frustrated that “there is a lot of discussion and not a lot of action” in Europe, with allies spending more time to discuss issues rather than address them.
Whitaker says that on security, the European partners need to actually step up their defence spending and show they can “follow through” on their promises, including the new Nato spending targets.
He then gets pushed on Greenland, and insists the US interest in the territory is only about ensuring that Greenland – whether as part of Denmark or an independent country in the future – needs to be able to defend itself from Russia and China.
“The Chinese have taken two runs, at least at Greenland; one through the ports trying to invest in the ports and second, through trying to invest in the airport, and so these are real issues,” he claims (something that has been repeatedly questioned by the Danish officials.)
He then distances himself a bit from Trump’s aggressive rhetoric there, saying that he learned during the first Trump administration that “responding to every single Truth Social or tweet by president Trump would be a full-time job,” but insists the underlying security analysis is sound.
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US vice-president JD Vance visits Armenia
And, as it happens, US vice-president JD Vance is in Armenia today, as he hopes to consolidate a peace process between the country and neighbouring Azerbaijan.
Armenian ambassador to the US Narek Mkrtchyan welcomes US vice-president JD Vance and US second lady Usha Vance upon their arrival in Yerevan, Armenia. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/AFP/Getty Images
AFP notes that Vance is the most senior US official ever to visit Armenia, where he is also expected to advance a flagship project to improve road-and-rail infrastructure in the region.
If the US VP reads Rob’s story below, maybe that issue will make the agenda of his talks too?
But it’s all a sign of closer ties with Armenia as you may remember that country’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan joined the recent inauguration of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, hosted in Davos.
Members of Trump’s Board of Peace present at its Davos inaugurationShare
Experts sound alarm over UK exports to firm linked to Russian war machine
Rob Davies
Separately, the UK government has been urged to re-examine a British company’s contract to export hi-tech machinery to Armenia, after the Guardian uncovered links to the supply chain for Russia’s war machine.
Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted sanctions from the EU, US, UK and others. Composite: Getty / Guardian Design
Sanctions experts and the chair of the House of Commons business committee questioned the government’s decision to award an export licence to Cygnet Texkimp.
The engineering company makes machines that produce carbon fibre “prepreg”, a lightweight and durable material that can be used in a wide range of civil and military applications.
The machines are understood to be undergoing final assembly at the company’s warehouse in Northwich, Cheshire, and could be just weeks away from being exported to a newly formed company in Armenia called Rydena LLC.
Rydena was established two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by former executives of a company that has emerged as one of the Kremlin’s important military suppliers.
Cygnet said it “undertook detailed end-user checks required by export controls and received full export approval” from the government, while Rydena insisted it does no business with Russian clients.
Experts said the contract raises concerns about the robustness of UK export controls designed to prevent British companies unwittingly taking part in the destruction of Ukraine.
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Russian military scrambles to find Starlink alternative after access blocked
Pjotr Sauer
Russian affairs reporter
Meanwhile, Russia’s military is scrambling to find alternatives to Starlink satellite internet after access to the network was curtailed, disrupting a key communications system that its forces had been using illicitly on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Starlink systems used by Russian troops were deactivated after talks because Ukraine’s defence minister and Elon Musk. Photograph: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock
Ukraine said last week that Starlink terminals being used by Russian troops had been deactivated after talks between its defence minister and Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX operates the satellite network.
Ukrainian officials said the move had already begun to affect Russian operations, including the use of drones.
Moscow had come to rely on thousands of contraband Starlink terminals smuggled into Russia, often through central Asia, to keep units connected along the frontline. The system allowed Russian forces to coordinate movements and drone strikes in areas where military radios were unreliable or easily jammed.
Russia has no homegrown alternative that comes close in terms of speed, coverage or ease of use. Ukraine says Russian units had started fitting drones with Starlink terminals, improving their accuracy and making them harder to disrupt electronically.
Musk said last week that efforts made to block Russian use of Starlink had had an effect. “Looks like the steps we took to stop the unauthorised use of Starlink by Russia have worked,” he wrote on X.
The move was an early victory for Ukraine’s new defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, given Musk’s past reluctance to be drawn too deeply into the conflict and comments often seen as favourable to Moscow.
It remains unclear how far the change will affect Russian forces on the battlefield. The shutdown, however, has prompted anger and frustration among pro-war Russian military bloggers who are closely embedded with frontline units.
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Whitaker’s comments on Nato, EU offer taster of what’s to come up in Munich this week – snap analysis
Jakub Krupa
I think we got a good taster of what sort of policy discussions and themes are going to come up this weekend as key EU, US security and foreign policy experts meet in Munich.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio, fresh from his Olympic appearance in Italy, will be the highest US representative at the event and is expected to deliver a speech at some point on Saturday.
Doubt it will be quite as combative, or “provocative” as Whitaker put it, as that JD Vance speech last year, but make sure to save the date and follow our coverage from Munich over the weekend.
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EU needs to ‘simplify’ and encourage ‘risk-taking,’ US ambassador to Nato says
US Nato ambassador Whitaker also talks about the US view of the European Union, which he jokes is “my favourite thing to complain about … in response to Europeans complaining about the United States.”
“We need the EU to simplify. We would call deregulation. You call it simplification. Whatever you want to call it, you’re going to have to encourage capital formation, risk taking,” he says.
“The types of things that are just in the American bloodstream, we’re going to have to see that happen not only in the defence technology, which is what I know the best, but just in, in, in technology generally.”
He says Europe loses too much talent globally – including to the US – and needs to get better at harnessing it or it is “going to be left behind”.
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US Nato ambassador rejects Zelenskyy’s suggestion of US setting deadline for peace deal on Ukraine
US Nato ambassador Matthew Whitaker also denies the suggestion that the US has set a new deadline for peace talks on Ukraine.
Whitaker says “that June deadline was mentioned by president Zelenskyy,” and adds “I don’t think that is anything that the United States has put out there.”
“We want the fighting to end. We want both sides to come together and agree to a peace deal. We’d like it sooner rather than later, and … we just want … to see the suffering and the killing end in Ukraine.”
He added that deadlines tend to be “very dangerous” in this setting, adding:
“We want a peace deal done.
I think we’ll just get this done as soon as it’s ready to get done. But ultimately, both sides, the Russians and the Ukrainians, are going to have to agree to any deal that’s hammered out.”
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US expects Europe to ‘share burden and ultimately take over conventional defence’ of European continent, US Nato ambassador says
There are some more good lines coming from US Nato ambassador, Matthew Whitaker, as he gets pushed on the US intentions on Europe’s security and defence during the MSC ‘kick-off’ briefing.
He gets asked about why US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is going to skip this week’s Nato ministerial on Thursday, and he says that allies should not read too much into this, as “we have a big world and, only one secretary of war and only one secretary of state, and they have a lot of places to be.”
He says the undersecretary, Elbridge Colby, is “the perfect person” to talk about the US defence strategy and the US view on Europe “right now and going forward” to “talk about capabilities that may need to be ultimately transitioned out of Europe and replaced by European capabilities.”
He says the US expects Europe “to equalise, as we expect them to be stronger and to share the burden of European security with the United States and ultimately take over the conventional defence of the European continent, together with the United States overarching nuclear umbrella.”
Expect red lights to go off (again) in some countries, particularly in central and eastern Europe, as they read these quotes above.
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Ukraine ‘top of agenda,’ but Europe should focus on how to truly respond to US challenges, MSC chair says
Munich Security Conference’s Wolfgang Ischinger also gives a preview of what’s to come this week, saying he “certainly hopes that this coming weekend will demonstrate that Ukraine deserves to be at the top of the agenda for a variety of reasons.”
He says Russia continues to “pretend to be willing to negotiate” on Ukraine, while it “continues to … territories the civilian population” instead, and he says this remains the biggest challenge for Europe “in a long time.”
He picks up on Whitaker’s comments earlier too, and says he hopes the MSC will offer an opportunity for Europe to discuss how to move on from discussions to taking “more credible, meaningful decisions on foreign policy and security.”
“I think the United States is giving us the best ever reason to take these questions seriously,” he says.
But he also pointedly says that the US interest in Greenland has proven to be “a public relations disaster,” dramatically affecting “the respect that the US deserves to enjoy in Europe.”
He’s right there: a recent YouGov poll showed that the US president’s attempted Greenland grab has succeeded in turning Europeans solidly against his country, the pollster’s latest survey found.
Large majorities in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Great Britain all declared an unfavourable opinion.
A chart tracking unfavourable opinions of the US across six European countries, showing rapid rises in recent monthsShare
US not trying to dismantle Nato or undermine current world order, US ambassador says in response to MSC’s criticism report
US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker is responding to some of the report’s findings now, saying he “completely rejects everything I just heard,” after the Munich Security Conference report editors warned that the greatest challenge to the liberal international order is “coming from within” through the dramatic shift in the US administration’s thinking about its alliances (11:54).
But Whitaker insists the US does not want to dismantle Nato or undermine the existing alliances as implied by the report’s authors, but merely to “balance” the way the defence burden lies on different Nato countries by pushing European allies to “do more and to be capable and strong, because that strength is what guarantees the peace.”
“That’s the first thing I reject; we’re trying to make Nato stronger, not to withdraw or reject Nato, but make it work like it was intended as an alliance of 32 strong and capable allies,” he said.
Whitaker also said that on trade, the US wanted to challenge the “unfair” trade arrangement with Europe, which “turned into Europe taking advantage and running huge trade surplus with the US.”
He also said that the US was frustrated that “there is a lot of discussion and not a lot of action” in Europe, with allies spending more time to discuss issues rather than address them.
Whitaker says that on security, the European partners need to actually step up their defence spending and show they can “follow through” on their promises, including the new Nato spending targets.
He then gets pushed on Greenland, and insists the US interest in the territory is only about ensuring that Greenland – whether as part of Denmark or an independent country in the future – needs to be able to defend itself from Russia and China.
“The Chinese have taken two runs, at least at Greenland; one through the ports trying to invest in the ports and second, through trying to invest in the airport, and so these are real issues,” he claims (something that has been repeatedly questioned by the Danish officials.)
He then distances himself a bit from Trump’s aggressive rhetoric there, saying that he learned during the first Trump administration that “responding to every single Truth Social or tweet by president Trump would be a full-time job,” but insists the underlying security analysis is sound.
Share
70 heads of state, government expected at Munich Security Conference this weekend
Former German ambassador to the US, Wolfgang Ischinger, is now giving a quick briefing on what to expect from the Munich Security Conference this weekend.
He says there will be some 70 heads of state and government, more than 140 government ministers, and more than 40 heads of international organisations.
The proceedings will be opened by German prime minister Friedrich Merz in his first MSC speech in this role, as he is expected to “set the tone” for the forum.
Ischinger also confirms some names of the top decision-makers attending, including French president Emmanuel Macron, UK prime minister Keir Starmer, Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk, and Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte will also be present.
It was earlier announced that the US delegation will be led by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
ShareJakub Krupa
Oh, and this blog will be coming to you from Munich on Friday and over the weekend, so we will bring you all the key lines from the MSC.
If any of this blog’s readers are coming too, let me know and say hello!
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