As political tensions between the U.S. and its European allies continue to grow, fears of World War III are rising with Russia openly celebrating the rift and suggesting Moscow could strike “any part of Europe” without fear of U.S. retaliation.
The divide between the U.S. and Europe has deepened sharply over the past year, as President Donald Trump continues to undermine international alliances and cast doubt on America’s commitment to NATO and its 32 member states.
“I’ve made [NATO] so much better, so much stronger. It’s so good now. NATO is much stronger now,” Trump told the Associated Press on Jan. 20. But in the same breath, he used a very subtle threat to emphasize NATO’s dependency on the U.S.: “Whether you like it or not, [NATO is] only as good as we are. If NATO doesn’t have us, NATO is not very strong.”
The next day, appearing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the president drew renewed criticism during a speech, when he openly questioned whether NATO allies would support the U.S. – one of its 12 founding members – in a crisis.
“I know we’ll come to [NATO’s] rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they’ll come to ours,” Trump told reporters, according to the BBC.
U.S. ‘treated very unfairly by NATO’
Trump’s skepticism toward NATO isn’t new, but it has grown increasingly pointed. At Davos, he reignited a controversial and widely criticized proposal to acquire Greenland, insisting the alliance back the move.
“I’m seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States, just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have,” Trump said.
He claimed that such a move would strengthen the alliance rather than weaken it. “But this would not be a threat to NATO. This would greatly enhance the security of the entire alliance, the NATO alliance. The United States is treated very unfairly by NATO,” he continued.
‘Frankly unstoppable’
Although Trump stated he would not use military action to annex Greenland – that he confused with Iceland – his tone alarmed allies.
“We never asked for anything, and we never got anything. We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be frankly unstoppable. But I won’t do that, okay?” he said, before adding: “I don’t have to” and “I don’t want to use force.”
Before leaving Davos, he announced there is a “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland.” Still, European leaders were left uneasy, particularly in light of previous comments where Trump warned that the world would “find out” how far he was willing to go to make the territory part of the United States.
‘Appalling’
The rift intensified further when Trump criticized NATO’s role in the war in Afghanistan.
Speaking with Fox Business in Davos, he claimed NATO allies stayed out of harm’s way. “We’ve never needed [NATO] – we have never really asked anything of them,” he said in the side interview with the outlet. “You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan or this or that, and they did: they stayed a little back, little off the front lines.”
According to CNN, the facts contradict Trump’s statement. Of the roughly 3,500 NATO coalition troops who lost their lives in Afghanistan, 2,456 were Americans, and 457 were British. Other smaller countries made significant sacrifices – Denmark, for example, lost more than 40 troops despite having a population of just over 5 million at the start of the war.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called Trump’s comments “insulting and frankly appalling”
“I’m not surprised they’ve caused such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured,” Starmer said. “If I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologize.”
Though Trump later praised British troops as “among the greatest of all warriors,” he did not apologize for his remarks.
‘Strike any part of Europe’
Amid these widening cracks in transatlantic relations, Russian state media has seized the moment with horrifying threats, the Express reports.
On Russian state television, Kremlin-aligned broadcaster and propagandist Vladimir Solovyov issued a chilling message: “Basically, we can choose to strike any part of Europe. Americans won’t retaliate,” he warned.
Solovyov’s statement reflects a growing narrative on Russian media channels that the U.S., under Trump, will no longer support NATO – and Europe – as it once did.
He claimed that a future alliance between the U.S. and Russia could leave European nations “on their own.”
The broadcaster, valued in the country for his strategic messages, went on to accuse Western leaders of provoking Russia by continuing to support Ukraine and referred to Kyiv as a “dead city,” despite the Ukrainian capital’s continued resistance and functioning government.
Although most European countries are protected under NATO’s Article 5 – requiring collective defense – Trump’s repeated criticism of the alliance have unnerved many in the West. And, Solovyov’s remarks underline how the Kremlin is interpreting these internal rifts as strategic opportunity.
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