Several weeks ago a circle of European political leaders, high-ranking diplomats and foreign policy thinkers gathered for a private dinner.
Given the recent developments in Ukraine and the United States, the mood around the table was glum enough to begin with. Then, participants say, one senior minister reduced the gathering to a shocked post-prandial silence with a single question: “Is this how Europe ends?”
The scenario the minister had in mind was not so much a President Trump taking the US out of Nato but a President Trump who simply questions whether America would come to the defence of its European allies.
This nightmare vision became reality in the space of 20 seconds on Saturday night. Trump not only shrugged off the American promise that
