The Munich Security Conference has been used by some as a chance for geopolitical window-dressing
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MUNICH, GERMANY – Munich’s glitzy annual security conference came shortly after a wave of diplomatic spats between the US and Europe, from insults to threats of invasion. But speak to the US and Nato, and you wouldn’t know it.
The conference was used by some as an opportunity for geopolitical window-dressing, with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio presenting a rose-tinted picture of transatlantic relations after a bruising few months.
Rutte – in a remarkably cheerful disposition as he spent his birthday meeting a small group of journalists, including The i Paper – struck an ambitiously optimistic tone on Nato‘s future, insisting that his military alliance was stronger than at any time since the Cold War.
The Nato secretary general said the alliance had taken two big steps of late, hiking defence spending targets to 5 per cent of GDP last June and shifting its “mindset” this week, as Europeans accepted the need to take “more ownership of their own defence, more ownership in the terms of leadership of Nato”.
The episode has Americans feeling “more anchored inside Nato, feeling that Nato is much more balanced” and more able to “pivot, over time, more towards Asia”, he said.
It was a bold claim just weeks after what was arguably the alliance’s lowest moment. The US’s threats to seize Greenland from Nato ally Denmark shattered the belief that members were united against common threats, instead revealing dangers within their own camp.
Rutte struck an ambitiously optimistic tone on Nato’s future, insisting that his military alliance was stronger than at any time since the Cold War (Photo: Johannes Simon/Getty)
Not everyone felt such optimism. French President Emmanuel Macron was firm in his long-held commitment that the future of European security lay within the EU, while Sir Keir Starmer sought to pivot the UK away from the US and towards Europe, declaring that the country was no longer the “Britain of the Brexit years”.
“There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history – and it is today’s reality too,” the Prime Minister said.
But Rutte said he would “plead against” requests to decouple from the US.
“Nato is the United States, Canada and 30 allies in Europe,” he said. “That transatlantic alliance, the Washington Treaty of 1949, has kept us all in peace. It is the most powerful, most successful defence alliance in world history. My plea would be… to stay together, and that’s exactly what’s happening.”
US changes tone – but not message
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to pacify Europe, proclaiming his homeland as a “child of Europe” and describing Europeans as “cherished allies and oldest friends”.
The speech was met with a standing ovation and sighs of relief among both Europeans and moderate Americans, but did little to address the foundational gaps between the two.
Rubio described Europe as America’s ‘oldest friends’ – but his words have done little to allay concerns over US reliability (Photo: Alex Brandon/Reuters)
Celeste Wallander, an adviser to former US presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden and a former Pentagon official, said it was a “huge departure in tone” – but not in content.
“The substance of the speech – on policy and the posture of the current administration – remained the same, which is: you are inadequate. You’ve not stepped up, we have a clear set of requirements that Europe must meet, and if you do so, then we can move forward in partnership,” she told The i Paper.
“It was: we can do this in partnership not because we have common interests, or because we can compromise. We can work together if you do everything we require.”
One European diplomatic source appreciated Rubio’s clear commitment to transatlantic relations and said it was a starting point for restoring the bond, but said Europe didn’t need external pressure to drive its defence goals and had a political agenda of its own.
Rachel Ellehuus, a former Pentagon and Nato official who is now director-general at the London defence think-tank Rusi, told The i Paper that while the messages “were more pragmatic, reflecting a traditional Republican view of alliances as beneficial to the US, I’m not sure anyone believes it.”
Nato ‘would win any war, any time’
Looming large over the conference was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has brought a full-scale ground war to the European continent for the first time since 1945 and redefined contemporary warfare.
However, it was curiously absent from the US’s conference speech, with no mention of Ukraine from Rubio until the Q&A – much to the frustration of some in the Ukrainian delegation.
Starmer, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Defence Secretary John Healey at the Munich Security Conference (Photo: Stefan Rousseau/WPA Pool/Getty)
Trump has raised alarms within Nato through his perceived warmth to Russia and willingness to force Ukrainian concessions, publicly humiliating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a jaw-dropping Oval Office spat, temporarily pausing military aid to Kyiv and repeating Russian disinformation about the war.
But, in what was no doubt a calculated move to appeal to Trump, Rutte celebrated the US’s efforts to bring peace and highlighted ongoing American military support for Ukraine, saying it was supplying weapons that only the US could, like Patriot missiles.
“It was only the American President who was able to bring [Vladimir] Putin to the negotiating table and then I’m not going to criticise him,” Rutte said, adding that Trump had his “best team” on the case. “It always takes time to get these difficult things done.”
He said the US’s security guarantees for post-war Ukraine were 96 or 97 per cent agreed.
Amid fears that Russia’s next target will be a Nato member, Rutte also insisted that “we will win every fight with Russia” at any moment, but that Moscow would not dare try because Nato was so strong.
He celebrated the success of all Nato allies reaching a minimum spend of 2 per cent of GDP on defence and said “we have almost solved the problem with the ammunition”, after warnings that Nato would run out in days in a war with Russia.
It was a far cry from the warning from the UK’s top military officer last month that Britain is not prepared for full-scale conflict, and Starmer’s description of Europe as a “sleeping giant” with economic and defence capabilities “less than the sum of its parts”.
While Rutte’s optimism for the fate of Western security is undoubtedly necessary to keep a volatile US President on side and to avoid inviting Russian attacks, it felt out of step with the well-founded fears of some European delegates and the brutal reality on the battlefields of Ukraine.
Until Trump secures a deal that does not simply hand the Kremlin a prize for invading a neighbour, and permanently refrains from insulting America’s European allies, it will remain an unstable partner – and no amount of Rutte cheer can paper over that crack.
Stahlmark on February 15th, 2026 at 15:00 UTC »
Rutte is remarkably adept in managing the Trump administration.
Few-Worldliness2131 on February 15th, 2026 at 14:24 UTC »
Europe can no longer trust America that is clear. It will pivot away from US military toward its own. Trump thinks America is the only one that can develop this stuff, he’s mistaken. A European coordinated military effort might be trumps worst nightmare as it focuses away from the US. Would the US really be there if needed, would it seek to blackmail Europe for its support, would it compromise technology in use across European defence? Unthinkable questions a year or so ago these are all now very real concerns. Itll take a long time for the trust to come back.
theipaper on February 15th, 2026 at 13:38 UTC »
Munich’s glitzy annual security conference came shortly after a wave of diplomatic spats between the US and Europe, from insults to threats of invasion. But speak to the US and Nato, and you wouldn’t know it.
The conference was used by some as an opportunity for geopolitical window-dressing, with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio presenting a rose-tinted picture of transatlantic relations after a bruising few months.
Rutte – in a remarkably cheerful disposition as he spent his birthday meeting a small group of journalists including The i Paper – struck an ambitiously optimistic tone on Nato‘s future, insisting that his military alliance was stronger than at any time since the Cold War.
The Secretary General said the alliance had taken two big steps of late, hiking defence spending targets to 5 per cent of GDP last June and shifting its “mindset” this week, as Europeans accepted the need to take “more ownership of their own defence, more ownership in the terms of leadership of Nato”.
The episode has Americans feeling “more anchored inside Nato, feeling that Nato is much more balanced” and more able to “pivot, over time, more towards Asia”, he said.
It was a bold claim just weeks after what was arguably the alliance’s lowest moment. The US’s threats to seize Greenland from Nato ally Denmark shattered the belief that members were united against common threats, instead revealing dangers within their own camp.
Not everyone felt such optimism. French President Emmanuel Macron was firm in his long-held commitment that the future of European security lay within the EU, while Sir Keir Starmer sought to pivot the UK away from the US and towards Europe, declaring that the country was no longer the “Britain of the Brexit years”.
“There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history – and it is today’s reality too,” the Prime Minister said.
But Rutte said he would “plead against” requests to decouple from the US.
“Nato is the United States, Canada and 30 allies in Europe,” he said. “That transatlantic alliance, the Washington Treaty of 1949, has kept us all in peace. It is the most powerful, most successful defence alliance in world history. My plea would be… to stay together, and that’s exactly what’s happening.”