Without the guarantee of American cooperation and NATO protection, the EU is newly vulnerable. And in response, in the past year, it has delivered a series of firsts that amount to a quiet revolution in how it exercises power.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to reassure Europe at the Munich Security Conference, but European leaders are skeptical.

"International order based on rights and rules is currently being destroyed," said the German Chancellor.

European leaders braced for a combative Munich Security Conference on Friday, with Germany’s Friedrich Merz noting starkly that the international world order “no longer exists” – one of the few points of agreement between the fractious allies in the transatlantic alliance.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appealed to European leaders in Munich by stressing Christian and cultural bonds that are no longer universal.

As a result, NATO allies have sent Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars in military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to prevent it from losing the war and collapsing. The Europeans have received waves of refugees and,

The end of Europe as we know it | EU's Draghi calls for federal "United States of Europe" superstate.

European leaders expressed relief at the tone of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks, but they made it clear that the trans-Atlantic rift remained.

A fter World War II, peace-loving Sweden began working on a nuclear bomb to stave off a feared Soviet invasion. But in the 1960s, the Scandinavian nation scrapped the program under pressure from the United States, whose nuclear arsenal has shielded Europe for about 80 years.