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Pete Hegseth’s last-minute decision to cancel the deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland caught Pentagon staff and European allies by surprise — the latest example of an abrupt personnel move from the Defense secretary that blindsided both sides of the Atlantic. It wasn’t clear exactly why Hegseth issued the order, according to three defense officials familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed anger and frustration with European allies for their failure to help with the Iran war, although Trump has labeled Poland a “model ally” for its high defense spending. The decision was even more surprising because...

As we mark the 81st anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe this Friday, 8 May, it’s clear that Germany will again be the leading European military power. Already next year its defense spending will be as much as that of France and Britain combined — and it is projected to be significantly larger by 2030. The German government’s declared goal is to have the strongest conventional army in Europe. True, France and Britain have nuclear weapons, but that means less money to spend on the rest of defense. So, the question is not “will this...

The German chancellor Friedrich Merz has desperately backflipped on his criticism of US President Donald Trump after he threatened to remove thousands of US troops from Germany. German chancellor desperately backtracks on Trump criticism after savage threat to remove troops | 4:55 | 6.18M subscribers | 368,472 views | May 4, 2026

Germany’s Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, attacked Trump over the war in Iran. Trump responded by withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany. The attack was a foolish thing for Merz to have done, but perhaps given the state of Islamic control over German society, he felt he had no other choice. It all started last Monday, when Merz announced that the U.S. was losing in Iran and essentially demanded that the U.S. beat a speedy retreat: “ The problem with conflicts like this is always you don’t just have to get in – you have to get out again. We saw that very...

The establishment consensus is hardening. President Trump’s war with Iran is the culminating disaster of the most damaging and misguided American foreign policy in history. Iranian leaders are humiliating the U.S., German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned. “Superpower suicide” is how Wendy Sherman, a top Iran negotiator under President Obama and Joe Biden’s deputy secretary of state, described Mr. Trump’s Iran policy to ABC News. As Ms. Sherman sees it, the Iran war has alienated allies, assisted Russia financially, and weakened America’s position vis-à-vis China. For Fareed Zakaria, the question is no longer whether the administration’s policies will backfire but whether...

Exploring the report out of Germany that Muslims are driving the ban of music in schools. Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, recently stated of President Trump and the United States, “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so I hope that this ends as quickly as possible.” I myself have questioned Trump’s endgame strategy, insofar as Iran’s leadership, such as it is, is simply never going to negotiate in good faith. Even if an agreement is reached with Iran in the wake of U.S.-Israel military action, whatever it may be, Iran...

This week both French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pushed rapid European economic development. They spoke at a European industrial conference in Antwerp, Belgium. Macron and Merz citing the competition of the United States and China linking the need for rapid development to a notion of European sovereignty... It is already well-known that Europe is committed to massive increases in defense spending. This seems to be a pathway towards European participation in future conflicts with Russia and or China alongside the United States. But the military buildup can also be clearly seen as a demand by the...

Germany should take over the historically American role of Nato Europe commander, Donald Trump’s envoy to the Western alliance has suggested. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, said he hoped Germany would one day volunteer for the prestigious role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He told the Berlin Security Conference: “I look forward to the day when Germany comes to the United States and says that we’re ready to take over the Supreme Allied Commander position. I think we’re a long way away from that, but I look forward to those discussions.” Since Nato was founded in 1949, the...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has reportedly filed hundreds of criminal complaints against members of the public for insulting him during his tenure as a politician. According to research conducted by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Merz is “one of the most sensitive politicians in the history” of the German republic. Die Welt’s Sunday paper reported that during his time as a member of parliament, Merz filed criminal complaints against citizens for calling him names such as “little Nazi”, “asshole,” and “filthy drunk”, among others. The paper said that documents from a law firm commissioned by Merz to file such complaints...

While Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government is catapulting Germany into a debt spiral, long-struggling Argentina has begun paying down its liabilities. President Javier Milei is holding up a mirror to Berlin’s debt-addicted political class -- and the reflection is one of unmistakable failure. It took Argentina’s President Milei barely six months, right in the middle of the severe economic crisis he inherited from his socialist predecessors, to clean up a completely ruined public budget. That was in June of last year. This week, the Finance Ministry in Buenos Aires reported something that, in Germany today, would probably be dismissed as fiscal...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is warning Syrian refugees to return to their country or else face deportation. The center-right leader said that following the end of the nation’s civil war, the approximately 1,000,000 Syrian refugees will be expected to repatriate. “There are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany, and therefore we can also begin with repatriations,” the chancellor said on Monday. “I will say it again: The civil war in Syria is over,” Merz emphasized. “There are now no longer any grounds for asylum in Germany.” If Syrian nationals who fled the violence of their country’s civil...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz broke with the generally optimistic tone of European leaders during their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump on Monday, stating that peace talks could not continue without a ceasefire. ... "Now the path is open. You opened it last Friday, but now the way is open for complicated negotiations," he said, adding, "And to be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire at the latest from the next meeting on." "I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire," he went on. "So, let's work on...

Sir Keir Starmer is set to join a call with European leaders and Donald Trump on Wednesday, ahead of the US president’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The Prime Minister warned on Monday that peace “must be built with Ukraine, not imposed upon it”, amid concerns of Kyiv’s from talks between Mr Trump and his Russian counterpart. The two leaders are set to meet this Friday to discuss the future of the Kremlin’s invasion, without the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Trump has confirmed. The US president has also signalled he thinks Ukraine might need to cede...

Sir Keir Starmer has presented a UK-led peace plan for the Middle East to Donald Trump as he met the US president in Scotland. The Prime Minister started work on a plan with France and Germany over the weekend after an emergency call with the two countries’ leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz. His official spokesman had said earlier that he planned to share details with key allies, including Arab states, in the coming days. In a readout of his meeting with the US president, Downing Street said the two reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire to pave the way...

Across Europe, things feel increasingly fragile. As governments lose control of basic order and the state becomes rapidly incapable of maintaining law and order, this isn’t so much a ‘clash of civilisations’ as the West quietly rolling over and letting itself die. Today, it was announced that Germany will be working alongside the Taliban. Yes, those same extremist Islamists that NATO forces—including Germany’s—spent years fighting in Afghanistan. The aim here is to facilitate the deportations of Afghan criminals living in Germany. Despite not officially recognising the Taliban regime, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government will allow two Taliban officials to work at...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gifted President Trump a gilded framed copy of his grandfather’s birth certificate during their first face-to-face meeting at the White House Thursday. The gold-encased present, a reflection of the president’s signature Oval Office décor, paid tribute to Friedrich Trump, who was born in Kallstadt, Germany, in 1869 and later immigrated to the United States. “That’s serious German,” Trump said in response to the gesture. “I want to thank you for that. That’s beautiful. Thank you very much. Fantastic. We’ll put it up in a place of honor.” Trump was previously gifted a “golden pager” from Israeli...

The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that he was unsure he would be able to quell Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Ukraine and Russia may need to keep fighting, President Donald Trump said Thursday, comparing the warring nations to squabbling children in what appeared to be a signal that the U.S. leader was losing interest in brokering peace in a conflict he once promised to end in a day. The comments, in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, were Trump’s clearest indication to date that...

Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will travel to Washington to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, German and U.S. officials said on Saturday. This will be Merz's first visit to the United States since taking office on May 6, and comes amid high tensions between the trans-Atlantic partners over trade and the Russian war in Ukraine. The visit was confirmed by a German government spokesman and a White House official.

The German chancellor’s drive to keep a campaign pledge of more robust backing for Ukraine is running into blocks within his own government as he prepares to welcome Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin.Friedrich Merz made a full-throated declaration on Monday, hours before Zelenskyy’s one-day visit was announced, that Germany was for the first time lifting previous range restrictions on weapons supplied to Kyiv, along with Ukraine’s other main western supporters.His statement – in an interview with a public broadcaster, which his team later posted to social media – was widely interpreted as a pivot toward bolstering Berlin’s aid to Kyiv at...

Merz will tell Netanyahu "not to overdo it" in a call this week, though notes Germany will remain more guarded in its criticism than others for 'historical reasons'. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Israel's recent attacks on Gaza are taking a humanitarian toll on civilians that can no longer be justified as a fight against terrorism. "Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has incresingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism," he told broadcaster WDR in a televised interview...