Foreign & Public Diplomacy

Welcome to the first special pop-up edition of Foreign Policy’s Situation Report at the 2026 Munich Security Conference (MSC), coming to you from the cavernous basement café of the Bayerischer Hof Hotel.

Proceedings have been relatively muted so far (though it is hard to top the fireworks that happened this time last year), but there have been a few pointed words and tense exchanges onstage.

Welcome to the first special pop-up edition of Foreign Policy’s Situation Report at the 2026 Munich Security Conference (MSC), coming to you from the cavernous basement café of the Bayerischer Hof Hotel.

Proceedings have been relatively muted so far (though it is hard to top the fireworks that happened this time last year), but there have been a few pointed words and tense exchanges onstage.

Here’s what’s on tap for today: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz tells the United States that Washington can’t go it alone, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz wants to “Make the U.N. Great Again,” and U.S. Democratic lawmakers come bearing a grim warning.

Facing the Elephant in Munich

Friday marked the first day of the MSC 2026, but a clear theme has already emerged. European leaders are not holding back in assessing that the post-World War II global order is kaput—and they blame U.S. President Donald Trump. While U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s incendiary speech at last year’s conference caught many off guard, Europe is now clear-eyed about where Washington stands with Trump at the helm.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday told the conference that a rules-based world order “no longer exists,” adding that a “deep divide has opened between Europe and the United States.” But Merz also emphasized that the United States and Europe still need each other. “In the era of great-power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone,” he said. “Dear friends, being a part of NATO is not only Europe’s competitive advantage. It’s also the United States’ competitive advantage, so let’s repair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together.”

That message echoed an open letter published on the eve of the conference and signed by every former U.S. ambassador to NATO since 1998, and all but one former NATO supreme allied commander Europe (a role traditionally held by a U.S. general) since 1997. “The U.S. does not maintain a military presence in Europe solely to protect Europeans; it does so to protect American interests,” they wrote, reiterating that the only time the........

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