Last Sunday, before the German election results were fully tallied, the nation’s new chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, was already working to continue a “seismic shift” in transatlantic relations (BBC, February 24, 2025).

After three years of war between Russia and Ukraine and no end in sight, returning U.S. President Trump now has Russia at the negotiating table. While many are hopeful that the war might end, this is not the way Europe or the rest of the world envisioned peace in Ukraine. Last week, U.S.