Germany’s political establishment is losing voters while Washington risks misreading the war in Ukraine. Holger Friedrich, writing in The National Interest, argues that both crises spring from the same dangerous failure – political elites increasingly trust their own assumptions rather than confront evidence that contradicts them.

Ursula von der Leyen wants to speak for Europe, reshape its security architecture and even open the EU’s doors to Canada. But a TEPSA analysis warns that the Commission President’s political ambitions are racing ahead of her institutional authority.

The international system Europe helped build is coming apart, but Brussels is struggling to adapt. An ECFR commentary warns that the world is moving beyond familiar rules and institutions into something more dangerous – a global landscape where countries increasingly act without any shared framework.

Europe is pouring resources into military rearmament, but a dangerous gap is opening beyond NATO’s borders. A RIEAS analysis warns that Washington’s dismantling of USAID is weakening Western influence across Africa, Asia and fragile states just as China and Russia expand their presence.

Europe is quietly building a new layer of strategic insurance – and Canada is moving closer to the centre of it. GMF argues that the EU-Canada relationship is becoming more important as Washington grows less predictable, transatlantic trade tensions rise and Europeans search for reliable partners beyond the traditional US-led framework.

Britain is still behaving like the custodian of an international order that is disappearing beneath its feet. ECFR argues that Brexit, political turmoil and two Trump presidencies have badly weakened the assumptions underpinning British foreign policy, leaving the country more exposed to economic coercion and strategic dependence.

Washington is pushing Europe towards a security order in which America carries less of the burden. Geopolitical Futures sees US negotiations with Moscow over Ukraine and demands for Europeans to defend themselves as parts of the same strategic shift – responsibility is moving back towards regional powers.