Silence falls, and the tension in the room is almost palpable as US Vice President JD Vance walks to the podium at the Munich Security Conference. Just 48 hours earlier, the world had felt like a different place.
Europeans knew, of course, how difficult things might get with Donald Trump, and that his second US presidency would seriously test the transatlantic relationship. Nonetheless, the phone call between Trump and the Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Wednesday evening sent shockwaves through the EU and NATO.