France seems dangerously close to electing a president, Marine Le Pen, who has openly admired Putin and last week called for rapprochement with Russia once the Ukraine war is over. Heading into a runoff election with President Emmanuel Macron, she has reportedly talked of removing France from NATO’s integrated military, and refuses to endorse Western claims of Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
Hungary’s newly re-elected prime minister, Viktor Orban, is fiercely critical of the Kyiv government. Germany claims to back NATO action, but has yet to provide meaningful military aid, and is funding Putin’s war effort by continuing to buy his gas and oil.
Elsewhere, Israel conspicuously distances itself from NATO because it deems its defense relationship with Russia too important to hazard. India is enthusiastically buying discounted Russian energy and refuses to take a stand alongside the West, despite its alleged adherence to the U.S.-led Quad alliance to contain China.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member