One after the other they lined up to speak: national leaders warning of increasing imminent danger to their countries.
World leaders spent this week bemoaning the big challenges facing the world in speeches to the United Nations General Assembly.
Last weekend, France, the Netherlands, Finland, Lithuania, and Switzerland all individually warned their citizens of increased threats from Russia.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, followed by calling the leaders of France's political parties to an emergency briefing at the Elysee Palace to discuss Ukraine, Iran and the energy crisis.
Guillaume Lacroix, leader of the Radical Party of the Left, left the meeting saying: "At the age of 50, I have rarely felt such vertigo".
Then, on Thursday, the Danish government's defence intelligence service released an assessment that concluded that Russia would increase its threats to NATO nations, "with greater consequences for the targeted countries than in the past" of hybrid war and sabotage.
Several railway lines in the Netherlands and France have recently been sabotaged, for example, with at least one causing many injuries.
The European warnings came as the far right, pro-Russian Alternative for Deutschland party made more gains in state elections in Germany last weekend and the support for the centre right party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz collapsed.
In the meantime, there is a sense of lame duck around German politics which is just what Europe doesn't need from its biggest economy just now.
The AfD is pushing for Germany to buy more oil and gas from Russia ahead of an expected cold winter — and generally become more friendly.