"Death, sex, privilege, lies" — the 1989 murder of Kitty and Jose Menendez by their sons, Lyle and Erik, "has it all," said Ed Power at The Telegraph. "At least, it does if you are Ryan Murphy."

Following Murphy's similarly provocative Netflix series about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the "American Horror Story" showrunner has turned his hand to another grisly crime, this time revisiting the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez. They are serving life sentences without parole for murdering their parents at their Beverly Hills home.

While the brothers claimed they carried out the crime in response to years of horrific sexual abuse at the hands of their father, prosecutors argued the double murder was motivated by an enormous inheritance.

'Immensely slick and breathtakingly crass'
"Flashy, exploitative and propulsive," "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" is "peak Murphy," said Power. Like Dahmer, the nine-part series "struggles against the temptation to glamorize its subjects" and is at once "immensely slick and breathtakingly crass." Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez try their hardest to "bring depth" to the titular "cartoon villains of American true crime," but a "haze of vulgarity" lingers over the show. 

Trying to figure out what tone the show is trying to strike is "headache-inducing," said Imogen West-Knights at Slate. One moment, it leans into "Tarantino-esque, aestheticized violence," and the next it attempts a sensitive portrayal of the "devastating" impact of childhood sexual abuse. "It is a doomed enterprise."

Writing from prison, Erik Menendez has criticized the "horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show" and called the portrayals of himself and his brother "vile and appalling."

'Moral questionableness be damned'
Of course, Murphy has been "doing the rounds justifying the show's existence," said West-Knights, "making copious noises about handling things sensitively." Doubling down, he told Variety that "Monsters" is the "best thing that has happened to the Menendez brothers in 30 years. They are now being talked about by millions of people all over the world." Indeed, the show scooped 12.3 million views in its first weekend of release and shot straight to the top of Netflix's streaming chart.

"Tastelessness and moral questionableness be damned," said West-Knights. With Murphy's track record, "I guess we'll do this all again in two years' time."

Europe is watching the 2024 presidential election closely, wondering how Donald Trump would handle the Ukraine war and the future of NATO in a second term.

Trump has said he would "stop the war 24 hours after being elected," Angela Stent said at the Brookings Institution. Though he has "not shared any details" about how to do so, he has suggested that lifting Russian sanctions would be part of the deal. 

The former president kept NATO on its heels during his first presidency, and signs are he would do it again in a second term. In February, Trump said the United States would not defend NATO countries that didn't meet their defense spending targets.

Ukraine: 'It has to end'
Trump did meet with Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy in September, said NBC News, promising again to end the war. "It has to end," Trump said. But when asked how he would work to end the war, he was once again short on details. It's "too early to say that," he said. Zelenskyy appears to be skeptical. "The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine's expense is unacceptable," the Ukrainian president said to The New Yorker. 

Trump has held an "escalating political grudge" against Ukraine since early in his first presidency, believing that the country's leaders favored Democrats. Overall, he has pushed the GOP toward a "vision of a less interventionist foreign policy," said The New York Times. It's a vision that is more reluctant to come to the aid of countries like Ukraine — and more open to authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin. 

NATO: A 'radical reorientation'
Many observers believe it's a "question of when, not whether" Trump would lead the U.S. out of NATO, Michael Hirsh said at Politico. But Trump is "unlikely to quit NATO outright." Instead, he would probably work for a "radical reorientation" of NATO — continuing to keep the American nuclear umbrella over Europe but handing responsibility for the "bulk of infantry, armor, logistics and artillery" to the European allies, Hirsh said. 

That's why Europe should plan for a "post-America NATO" in a second Trump term, Phillips P. O'Brien and Edward Stringer said at Foreign Affairs. The alliance would be "mortally undermined" by even an "incomplete U.S. withdrawal." But without the U.S., there is "no natural leader."