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Feb 17, 2026 - World

Secretary of state spoke of ‘golden age’ of US-Hungary relations at time of tense transatlantic relations with traditional alliesEven before he in effect endorsed Hungary’s Viktor Orbán before a crucial parliamentary election, Marco Rubio’s itinerary for Europe promised to be provocative. After meeting US allies at the Munich Security Conference during a particularly tense moment in transatlantic relations, the US secretary of state departed for Slovakia and Hungary – the two EU states most dependent on Russian energy and sceptical of the bloc’s support for Ukraine.In what bordered on an explicit political endorsement, Rubio told Orbán that relations between Hungary and the US had entered a “golden age” – and would stay like that for as long as Orban remains in power. Continue reading...

Feb 17, 2026 - World

Donald Trump's administration has overseen a shift in the mood of world politics, with the U.S. drifting further to the right and a question mark looming over its relationship with Europe. The president's team has openly backed political candidates in elections across the globe, notably in Brazil and Honduras last year. Trump's meddling is targeted and shows how far the president will go to ratify his U.S. national security strategy, CNN analyst Stephen Collinson said.Collinson wrote, "The Trump administration’s backing of Orbán in Hungary’s election is the latest sign of an institutionalized shift to the right in US foreign policy, and a rejection of traditional stances. Some Europeans now regard their longtime protector as a growing political threat."And it reflects the growing willingness of the White House — amid new Trump claims that the US election system is plagued by fraud ahead of the midterm elections — to insert itself into the domestic politics of foreign states. "Trump has already tried to influence voters or shape elections in Argentina, Brazil, Honduras and Poland, and claims to be running Venezuela from the Oval Office after ousting President Nicolás Maduro."Trump isn’t acting on a whim. He’s codified his goals in the new US national security strategy, which praises the 'growing influence of patriotic European parties' in Europe. This refers to right-wing populist and anti-immigrant parties like the National Rally in France, Reform in the UK and the AfD in Germany, which are seeking to oust the global leaders with whom Trump deals every day."Collinson went on to suggest these stress tests of European willingness could amount to the US withdrawing from defense agreements and severing ties with some countries. He wrote, "At Munich last year, Vice President JD Vance conjured an idealized view of Western Europe rooted in Christianity at risk of being destroyed by a wave of immigration from Muslim and majority non-White nations. This year, Rubio delivered a similar message, albeit cushioned with more diplomatic finesse."He insisted that Washington doesn’t want “vassal” states but strong EU partners and that it is committed to ending the Ukraine war threatening the continent. But his speech was also a broad hint that unless the continent adopted MAGA’s view of Western civilization, America’s defense of Europe would be in question."

Feb 17, 2026 - World

At least 80 film-makers and stars sign open letter after German festival jury president Wim Wenders says they should keep out of politicsMore than 80 current and former participants of the Berlinale, including Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton and Adam McKay have signed an open letter condemning the festival’s “silence” on Gaza.It comes after the film festival was swept up in what it called a “media storm” over the alleged sidelining of political discourse at the event. Continue reading...

Feb 17, 2026 - World

Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered an unsettling speech to European leaders at the Munich security conference Monday, receiving a standing ovation that left an analyst stunned. In an opinion piece for The Guardian published Tuesday, Mehdi Hasan, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo, described the "disturbing" 3,000-word address from the Trump administration's top diplomat. Hasan questioned Rubio's "love letter to conquest and colonialism" and called out his "gaslighting" as the son of Cuban immigrants who once called President Donald Trump a "con artist" and "lunatic." He's now telling European leaders they should support America's president. "Did they not realize that they may have been clapping for their own demise? That despite Rubio’s gentler tone and polished language, despite all his talk of transatlantic comity and unity, he was advocating for a geopolitics of vicious authoritarianism. That Rubio may be good cop to Trump’s bad, but their goal is one and the same: to make empire great again," Hasan wrote. Hasan pointed out that it wasn't just what Rubio said — it's what he didn't say. Rubio did not mention Russia or China once in his comments, and despite the concerns of European leaders, he also never spoke of Greenland. And after reports that Trump is still considering acquiring Greenland, Rubio reiterated that Trump hasn't let go of the idea of using military force to take the Denmark territory. "Astonishingly, Trump has refused to rule out the use of military force against Denmark, a Nato ally," Hasan wrote. "He has dismissed concerns about international borders and national sovereignty. And, this weekend, he sent his secretary of state to a conference in Europe that was supposed to be about collective security to deliver a speech that amounted to: America must dominate. Trump must lead. And Europe must get onboard – or else."Instead of praising Rubio, European governments should be wary, Hasan argued. "Again, I cannot emphasize this enough: European officials actually stood up in Munich and applauded a US official praising empire, while serving a US administration whose stated foreign policy goals include the imperial seizure of European territory," Hasan wrote. "Have they lost their minds? The Europeans in that audience may have told themselves that they were applauding a return to stability and even friendship with the United States," Hasan added. "In reality, they were offering a standing ovation for the return of something much uglier, bloodier, and more dangerous. Empire. And this time, it may not stop at Europe’s own borders."

Feb 17, 2026 - World

It is "disheartening" that some cutting-edge tech companies seem reluctant to fully do business with the military and support all of its operations, a key Defense Department official said Tuesday amid an escalating feud between the Pentagon and Silicon Valley firm Anthropic over the reported use of the company's AI tool in recent U.S. Special Forces missions in Venezuela.