Trump’s disregard for Europe confirmed in phone call with Putin over Ukraine

There is alarm, panic and great concern in the European press this Friday after Wednesday’s call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in which the pair appeared to discuss plans for an end to the war in Ukraine. The British daily The i says the call has left European leaders scrambling, but notes that NATO’s leader Mark Rutte has commended Trump’s honesty and said that Europe needs a wake-up call about its defence spending. “Castaways” is how Libération, French left-wing paper, describes the two leaders on its front page. The paper’s editor calls the conversation with Trump the greatest victory for Putin in three years of war, and it didn’t even come on the battlefield. 

There is great concern that talks to end the war in Ukraine will come at Ukraine’s expense and will completely sideline Kyiv. In Ransom’s cartoon in French paper Le Parisien, Trump tells Volodymyr Zelensky that there is no chair for him at the proverbial negotiating table with Putin.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine, the German daily, wonders if Berlin is simply watching all this unravel from the sidelines. The paper notes that Putin and Trump’s conversation and subsequent comments this week have not only shaken Germany‘s understanding of its own role in the conflict. They also come in the middle of an election campaign in the country and beg the question: how can Europe take responsibility for Ukraine’s security and its own? Writing in the Daily Mail, Richard Shirreff, former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe for NATO, says that Trump has handed Ukraine on a platter to Russia and says it’s worse than Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Nazi Germany. He also acknowledges that this agreement is catastrophic for the courageous Ukrainians who’ve been fighting for three years. Politico quotes a European official as saying that European leaders simply lack a master plan when it comes to Trump’s new world disorder. The official, speaking anonymously, tells Politico that Trump discussing peace talks without even involving Europe shows to what extent Washington disregards the continent. The US president has delivered a rude awakening to the cruel world of today.

The New York Times takes us inside the messy court battle and bitter succession fight between Rupert Murdoch and his four children over the future of his empire. Based on 3,000 pages of court documents, the Times article details a family succession saga that reads like a script from the TV series “Succession” (itself inspired by the Murdoch family). Ninety-three-year-old Murdoch has always intended for his empire to be passed on to his four children. In recent times, however, he has sought to consolidate power in the hands of just one child: Lachlan Murdoch, the most politically conservative of the four siblings and who represents the conservative direction Murdoch wants for the future of his news empire. In 2023, he sat down with his two daughters to announce that he’d be changing the trust to give Lachlan majority powers. What ensued was a bitter family legal battle that’s played out in dramatic fashion, culminating in a secret trial in which they testified to the power plays, backstabbing and grievances that have defined the family.

Finally, it’s Valentine’s Day and if you’re a non-romantic, there are many ways to hate-celebrate this day! The Independent reports that animal shelters and zoos around the world are offering many possibilities to help you forget about your exes. At a bird shelter in Alaska, you can pay $100 to name a frozen dead rat after your ex and then watch it being fed to resident owls at the shelter. If rats aren’t your thing, you can always name a feral cat after an ex before it – the cat, not your ex – gets castrated! Meanwhile, Memphis Zoo in Tennessee gives you two options: for $10, you can send a lovely video of a red panda eating a grape to your loved one … or, you can send a video of an elephant pooping. The options are plentiful this Valentine’s Day for lovers and haters!

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.