The United States is seeking sanctions relief for Russia and a possible Trump-Putin meeting, even pressing NATO allies to tone down criticism of Moscow, while Britain, Finland, Italy and France are instead building up weapons and backup defenses.
This week Poland, Germany and the US disagreed on whether to still call Russia's actions 'hybrid war,' even as Germany called sabotage risk to its military 'significant' for the first time and Russia struck ships in Romanian and Bulgarian waters.
The US government cancelled tough sanctions and tariffs on Russia right before they were due to start, clearing the way for a diesel trade deal.
European governments are no longer just accusing Russia of sabotage — they're now arresting and prosecuting suspects, and using the same tactics against China and Iran.
Russia threatened a 'nuclear response' over Kaliningrad, its exclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania, after Britain offered to extend nuclear protection to Finland.
NATO jets shot down a drone over Lithuania this week, the first time the alliance has downed an aircraft over a member country's territory.
This week, several efforts to punish or deter rivals ran into the same problem.
A month-old, limited conflict between the US and Iran spread this week to Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, pushing oil above $90 a barrel and rattling bond markets worldwide.
This week, the West's defenses and alliances were tested from several directions at once, raising questions about how prepared it is for a crisis.
Several unrelated crises this week revealed the same problem: governments moving too slowly for fast-changing threats.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards say the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway ships use to move oil out of the Gulf, stays closed until US sanctions are lifted and war damages are paid.
For a week, ships came under attack near the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that much of the world's oil passes through.