The fallout from Munich by FP's Ravi - February 17, 2026 - It’s worth reading a transcript Rubio’s speech, as well as Vance’s from last year. As one European diplomat told me, the two were vastly different in tone but similar in substance.

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The fallout from Munich by FP's Ravi  FEBRUARY 17, 2026  |  VIEW IN BROWSER  |  DOWNLOAD THE APP U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during the 62nd Munich Security Conference in Munich on Feb. 14. Alexandra Beier/AFP via Getty Images At the Munich Security Conference last year, an infamous speech by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance turned into a wake-up call for Europe. The scolding, accusatory message was the clearest signal yet that U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term would be markedly different from his first. It was also a harbinger of the tough and bullying tone that the White House would use with NATO and Europe. With that backdrop, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s scheduled address at this year’s Munich summit was the source of great interest and anxiety among Europeans. “We care deeply,” Rubio said, amid glowing references to shared cultural ties such as Beethoven, Mozart, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. “We care deeply about your future and ours. And if at times we disagree, our disagreements come from our profound sense of concern about a Europe with which we’re connected.” The speech was met with a collective sigh of relief—in large part because delegates were expecting far worse. Speaking on stage shortly after, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it “reassuring.” But in private, many European leaders expressed concern. They saw Trump’s recent threats to invade Greenland as the crossing of a Rubicon, and Rubio’s repeated mentions of Christianity and Western civilization struck some as having racial undertones. For attendees and delegates from the global south, Rubio’s calls for Europe to “join” the United States on a path that expanded the West with “its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe” were received as a proposal for renewed colonization. It’s worth reading a transcript Rubio’s speech, as well as Vance’s from last year. As one European diplomat told me, the two were vastly different in tone but similar in substance. For more from Munich, take a look at the dispatches from our reporters Rishi Iyengar and John Haltiwanger in their Situation Report newsletter. I also recommend my interview with Elbridge Colby, the U.S. Defense Department’s top policymaker, on whether the United States would go to Europe’s defense if a NATO ally invoked Article 5 and how Washington is shifting its posture in Asia. You can also watch, listen, or read a transcript from my mainstage panel on tariffs with the World Trade Organization’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.—Ravi Agrawal, editor in chief On Our Radar Board of Peace. Members of Trump’s newly created Board of Peace will meet in Washington on Thursday, with the U.S. president not bothering to deny accusations that his goal is to marginalize the United Nations Security Council. So why did BRICS acquiesce to Trump’s demands for an alternative body? In January, C. Raja Mohan argued that the response has exposed the “myth of a united global south resisting U.S. hegemony.” AI Impact Summit. This week, New Delhi hosts the fourth global artificial intelligence summit—the first to be held in the global south. India’s theme is “impact,” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the tech community hoping to display examples of scalable AI within the country. Last year, Bhaskar Chakravorti argued that though there is no shortage of use cases for AI in the developing world, getting the industry away from its “singular obsession with building ever more powerful large language models will not be easy.” Bangladesh votes. Last Thursday, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) decisively prevailed in the country’s most consequential election in years. Voters went to the polls for the first time since protests ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024. The BNP’s victory allows it to push its agenda without needing to rely on its more conservative rival, Jamaat-e-Islami. Yet despite the leading role of women in the protest movement, parties failed to meet a modest commitment to field more women candidates, Salil Tripathi wrote ahead of the election. Poll: Is Washington attempting to mend ties  with European nations? 🤝 Yes, Rubio’s conciliatory tone was an attempt to lower tensions. 🙅 No, the message was ultimately the same.    Last week’s results: Will U.S. allies be more vocal against Trump’s White House after Davos?   📢 They are ready to push back against the Trump agenda. (60%) 🤐 Allies will stay quiet to keep the peace with the U.S. (40%) FP Live Decoding Trump’s China Policy Feb. 19 | 11 a.m. ET Critics of the Trump administration’s China policy lament the easing of restrictions on high-end chips while balking at the U.S. president’s threats of even more tariffs. What exactly is the White House’s China policy now? Kurt Campbell served as the “Asia czar” under the Biden administration. The former deputy secretary of state will sit down with FP’s Ravi Agrawal to examine U.S. policy on China today and how much it has changed in the last year. Register now and submit your questions ahead of the conversation. A New Nuclear Age? On Demand Feb. 18 | 10 a.m. ET Is the age of nuclear nonproliferation over? One could certainly make the case, with the recent expiration of a key nuclear treaty between the United States and Russia, as well as China’s rapid expansion of its arsenal. On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, FP Live’s Ravi Agrawal will ask Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, how to balance this growing global threat with the demand for nuclear power. Watch on demand. What We Learned at the Munich Security Conference On Demand Every February, spy chiefs, diplomats, and world leaders arrive in Munich to discuss the biggest defense and national security issues on their minds. Foreign Policy’s reporters were on the ground, interviewing top officials on and off the record. But they kept some of the best details for FP’s Insiders. Join a special Insider Access call to debrief on the Munich Security Conference amid rising tensions between Europe and the United States. Become an Insider to watch the conversation on demand. FP in Munich: The Weaponization of Trade On Demand U.S. tariffs have upended decades of trade policy, but how has that affected global growth and cooperation? At the Munich Security Conference, FP’s Ravi Agrawal sat down with policymakers on the front lines of these economic changes: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the director-general of the World Trade Organization; Finnish President Alexander Stubb; and German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil; and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis. Watch on demand or read the edited transcript. Exercise Your Mind On Feb. 10, the Chinese Embassy in London criticized the British government for expanding a visa program for which group? Tibetans and Uyghurs Hong Kong residents Taiwanese citizens Japanese citizens You can find the answer to this question at the end of this email. Test your knowledge with more quiz questions.  Trending Now What War With Iran Would Look Like Decapitation strikes against the country are likely. An invasion is not. By Arash Reisinezhad, Arsham Reisinezhad NATO’s Leader Is Totally Lost What does Mark Rutte think he’s doing? By Keith Johnson Trump’s Puzzlingly Rosy Jobs Numbers The first U.S. jobs report of 2026 is so good, it’s raising eyebrows—and questions. By Keith Johnson Can Ukraine Kill Its Way to Victory? Increased losses could strain Russia’s military, but Ukraine faces steep hurdles. By Sam Skove Rubio to Europe: ‘We Care Deeply’ In a widely anticipated speech at the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described concerns about a shared “Western civilization” as reason for being “a little direct” with Europe. By FP Staff From Around FP 🎧 The Future of National Security: Introducing Strength in Numbers, a podcast that looks at how AI and emerging technologies are shaping national security. In each episode, we’ll look at how this technology is being used on the battlefield and ask key policymakers and experts how to use these tools to make sure the United States stays competitive against potential adversaries. Strength in Numbers is a podcast from the University of Virginia’s National Security Data and Policy Institute, produced by FP Studios. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 🎧 The AI Economy: Major tech companies are directing a huge portion of their capital expenditures to AI—at least $650 billion in the coming year. The effect is to stimulate the economy in the short term, but what happens in the long term? On this week’s episode of Ones & Tooze, Adam and Cameron discuss the AI economy (and the German economy under Chancellor Friedrich Merz). Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts—or watch the conversation on YouTube. 🎧 Contextualize this year’s MSC: Listen to the stories behind the most consequential speeches and moments from six decades of the Munich Security Conference, setting the scene for last weekend’s developments. Munich Moments is a special series from Foreign Policy in partnership with the Munich Security Conference. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Answer: The visa program expansion came as former Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a British national, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, FP’s James Palmer writes in China Brief.