Transatlantic Consultancy

Today marks the beginning of the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For context, the United States’ participation in World War II lasted three years and ten months. Ukraine is fighting for a principle, the right of a country’s people to choose their government, their laws, and their way of life, that countless American service members also pledged and fought to defend.

Ukrainian soldiers are dying, and Ukrainian civilians are suffering, in a struggle that has shown the world the folly of believing egoistic strongmen like Vladimir Putin. They have unambiguously demonstrated that meeting aggression with force, not appeasement, is the only path to preserving freedom. They have bought time for other countries threatened by Russian expansionism and duplicity - including the United States - to reassess and rearm.

We owe Ukraine our gratitude and support. Instead, the current U.S. administration has cut off military and financial aid, cozied up to the war’s aggressor, Vladimir Putin, and attempted to force Ukraine to sue for a cease-fire on Russia’s Terms: an unmistakable analogue to anyone who remembers history of the pressure on Czechoslovakia which forced them to surrender their territory to N**i Germany at the Munich Conference in 1938, whetted Hitler’s appetite for conquest, and thereby led to global war.

Today, on this unfortunate anniversary, it’s important for U.S. officials to recognize that resuming aid to Ukraine is an American imperative. Not only is this an affirmation to the world’s potential aggressors that we will defend democratic (and American) principles, but it is the surest way to prevent the necessity of expanding American military cemeteries overseas.

Regulated but liberal migration is a net positive.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) on X

One more disturbing piece of fallout (used ironically) from the disappearance of the United States as a reliable strategic partner siding with democracy, human rights, and the rule of law is that Poland is now considering the development of its own, sovereignly controlled, nuclear weapons. That would upset the current non-proliferation regime that the international community has established, and would certainly engender a Russian reaction, though their aggression against their neighbors is a principal factor in Poland’s considerations.

At the moment, only Poland’s President, who is in the ultranationalist opposition party, is actively campaigning for this, while the centrist government has remained uncommitted. But the discussion of how to create a European-based nuclear deterrent, beyond the relatively small British and French capabilities, has been going on in multiple countries for nearly a year.

Trump’s “America First” sloganeering may play to his MAGA supporters, but it, and the very real transformation of U.S. military strategy from a force for global stability to new-age gunboat diplomacy, has made the world ą more dangerous place.

Poland should ‘begin work’ on nuclear defenses, Nawrocki says Warsaw should base its security strategy around ‘nuclear potential,’ Polish president said.

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
- Mark Twain

What If The Allies Declared War In 1938 Over Czechoslovakia? WW2 Would NOT HAPPEN As We Know It James Hanson is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Nigel Jones to discuss one of the most important events in the lead up to the Second World War: the...

A very sad commentary on where the U.S. is headed as a nation if it is are unable to reverse Trump’s insistence that “L'État, c'est moi,” and return to the rule of law.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/10/business/corruption-index-transparency-international-united-states-intl?cid=ios_app&fbclid=IwZnRzaAP4ZnNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeVzAeqHzvTfpFh3YD-6Alk4M3SHyta7MKbvK2swVNd0XJhyOu5DdUIj6hmBc_aem_0aSOBfNdslLHItTA6J2t1Q

The US slips to its lowest-ever rank in a global corruption index | CNN Business The United States has fallen to its worst-ever position in a leading global index that measures views of corruption in the public sector among independent experts and businesspeople.

Greenland has long been a NATO concern. Donald Trump’s plan to acquire it would destroy the alliance which protects it.

NATO’s Been Talking About Greenland for Years The island matters a lot—not as territory to acquire but as a linchpin of deterrence.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/26/europe/russia-moskva-admits-backtracks-ukraine-intl?cid=ios_app

After years of Russian denials, court accidentally admits Black Sea battleship was sunk by Ukraine | CNN Russia has admitted for the first time that a Ukrainian missile sank its prized Black Sea flagship, later deleting the statement and returning to the official narrative that the guided-missile cruiser Moskva went down because of a freak accident.

This is sad, but also hopeful. And it’s not happening just in Germany, but all over Europe. It represents an American success, in a way. The American values we urged European countries to adopt after World War II: open democracy, law-based governance, freedom of speech, protection of minority groups, equality, economic opportunity, social security (safety net) systems, and comity among nations; took root and grew here, with a further blossoming after Communism’s fall in the east.
Now, when the current Trump government is working to undo what actually made America great in the eyes of the world, those values are being preserved and nurtured in Europe. To be sure, radical nationalism is a problem here, too, but the specter of what is happening in the U.S. is actually helping to keep it under control.
With luck, and with courage, European countries will find their voices soon - and to reverse Winston Churchill’s words - the Old World will come to the rescue of the New.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bez7J86m4/?mibextid=wwXIfr

After 80-year bond, Germans find breaking up with the U.S. is hard to do To many Germans, Americans were saviors after World War II, and they feel especially hurt over President Donald Trump’s disdain for Europe and traditional alliances.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unfortunately just gave one heck of a speech and international security analysis at Davos. I say unfortunately, because he accurately describes the end of the American Century, and the beginning of non-superpowers aligning with each other for economic and military security because they can no longer have faith or trust in America’s commitment to self-determination, peace, economic development, protection of the weak, and more generally the rules-based system of international law we ourselves built after World War Two.
That system, with America foremost among allies, was supposed to replace the Great Power competition which spawned two world wars and numerous smaller conflicts, and whose economic tenets - including heavily tariffed international trade and a lassiez faire approach to business and investment regulation - plunged the Western world into the deepest depression it had ever known.
Elections have consequences, it’s often said, and the 2024 Presidential election’s consequence, together with a MAGA Congress’s failure to provide oversight, is that America will never again in the near foreseeable future be considered a - let alone the - “leader of the free world.”
The torch, which President John F. Kennedy noted at his inauguration in 1961 had been passed to a then-new generation of Americans, has baan unceremoniously thrown to the ground by our current government, where, to the world’s good fortune, the middle powers show increasing signs they have the will and ability to pick if up.
I wish them great success.

Davos 2026: Special address by Mark Carney, PM of Canada Canadian PM Mark Carney stressed the end of the rules-based international order and urged middle powers to act together to counter the great power rivalry.

What EU and NATO leaders need to understand about dealing with authoritarian governments.
https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/01/greenland-trump-europe-nato-fallout-davos?utm_source=ctw&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=btnlink&mkt_tok=ODEzLVhZVS00MjIAAAGfiqogoe8VZFW1fcWdvSYUkdXEvucxfNb0e9N_HfB62b924aOiRu8mPD-N8ZLARZ8R9hogYy8mSYrrHGxF46qv9VxkGeHScOJIWzitJxRCZg&fbclid=IwZnRzaAPhbjVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeHUnf7z0GT6vKIM5KbX40KimY2w5vn7KZc1aplGH7WVOU-6JzWw1vVsdX4HY_aem_UF1dfjnsqZ_EpTstLcLInQ

The Greenland Episode Must Be a Lesson for Europe and NATO They cannot return to the comforts of asymmetric reliance, dressed up as partnership.