Friedrich Merz has begun trying to form a coalition after his centre-right CDU party won the most votes in yesterday’s German election. The likely Chancellor-to-be vowed to strengthen Europe so it could “achieve independence” from the US. Alice Weidel, whose far-right AfD finished second, says she has already received a congratulatory message from Elon Musk. Heads of state are gathering in Kyiv today to commemorate the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A phone call between G7 leaders including Keir Starmer and Donald Trump is planned for this afternoon. President Zelensky said yesterday that he would be willing to resign in exchange for Ukraine securing Nato membership. Britain’s universities educate more world leaders than those of any other country. UK institutions churned out 50 of the premiers who were in post in 2022, while the US educated just 41. Since 1990, Oxford alone has produced 36.

Sweeping the Western alliance into the “dustbin of history”

Ronald Reagan laid out his vision for the West in 1984, at the 40th anniversary of the Normandy landings. “The strength of America’s allies is vital to the United States,” he said. “We were with you then; we are with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.” In the past week, says Andrew Sullivan on Substack, that vision has been “swept into the dustbin of history”. Donald Trump’s wholesale abandonment of Ukraine, coupled with JD Vance’s stinging attack on America’s European allies, make it clear that “the US is no longer in alliance with Europe at all”. Certainly, Nato is effectively over. Does anyone “even faintly believe” that this US president would abide by Article 5 to defend another member state?

Trump’s new doctrine of American power reflects his deepest conviction: that “might is right” and that “weak countries should surrender to strong ones”. His aggression towards Canada, Panama, Gaza and Denmark isn’t just about “trolling the libs” – it’s all of a piece with this view. The significance of this shift cannot be understated. The replacement of international law with “spheres of influence” will mean the US has no case to make against China’s future absorption of Taiwan, say, or Russia’s re-occupation of Ukraine and the Baltic states. The whole idea of “the West” – that the democracies which beat the Nazis and outlasted the Soviets are America’s friends – is effectively over. I’m optimistic that most Americans don’t share this view and that the West will re-emerge at some point. “But it may be a dark, dark few years.”