Sep 25, 2026 · 50 min
Europe confronts Russia as American reliability fades
Why Won’t Europe Do More For Ukraine? + The Rise of Pro-Russia Populism
The episode examines whether Europe can defend Ukraine and itself as Russian pressure grows and confidence in U.S. support weakens.
- 1Ukraine’s rapidly changing military technology is forcing Europe to rethink defense cooperation and support.
- 2Russia’s hybrid tactics exploit fear, division, sabotage, and political movements sympathetic to Moscow.
- 3Europe faces a strategic choice between greater defense responsibility and continued dependence on an increasingly unreliable ally.
Don't miss
Anne Applebaum calls the abandonment of American alliances a form of superpower suicide.
The brief
Anne Applebaum joins Sebastian Mallaby and Rebecca Patterson to assess Europe’s response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, amid intensifying attacks and fast-changing military technology.
Ukraine’s independent long-range capabilities are changing the battlefield, while European governments deepen military and technological cooperation as U.S. reliability comes into question.
The discussion broadens from conventional war to sabotage, covert incursions, accidental strikes, and other forms of Russian pressure designed to frighten and divide Europe.
Applebaum links Europe’s hesitation to debt, energy costs, political fragmentation, and fear that rearmament could provoke a wider conflict, even as Russia’s threat grows.
The episode’s sharpest warning is that abandoning American alliances could become a form of superpower suicide, leaving both sides of the Atlantic weaker.
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