The Trump Administration’s decision to reestablish relations with Russia and throw out the proxy-war in Ukraine has put the British establishment into a complete freakout. A case in point is The Economist, which even went so far as to publish two different covers for their weekly magazine—both of which feature derogatory images of President Trump. In releasing their latest edition, editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes included a personal letter to subscribers expressing the direness of the situation as seen from London. “I have been a journalist for three decades and in that time I’ve experienced very few weeks as head-spinning as this one,” she wrote. She accused Trump of “turning his back on the transatlantic alliance” and “buying wholesale into Vladimir Putin’s talking points.”
The issue’s lead article is titled: “How Europe Must Respond as Trump and Putin Smash the Post-War Order” with the kicker: “The region has had its bleakest week since the fall of the Iron Curtain.” After running through the gamut of changes the new administration has introduced, and what they mean for the West, the authors get to the point. They write: “Europe’s urgent task is to relearn how to acquire and wield power; it must be prepared to confront adversaries and sometimes friends, including America…. It needs to use [its] resources to reinvigorate growth, rearm and assert itself.”