Consequences of the G7 Fiasco: “It Wouldn’t be Wise Writing Off the U.S.”

Donald Trump caused a debacle at the G7 summit. Foreign Policy Expert Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff responds to the question of whether the West is at its end.

Interview by Hans Monath

Mr. Kleine Brockhoff, U.S. President Donald Trump openly duped his most important allies, rendering the G7 a charade by withdrawing his commitment. Is this a turning point in history?

We are in the midst of a crisis in the West, where different beliefs  about what does, or should, unite us clash. Under the leadership of the U.S., since the end of WW2, the West has sought to advance a rules-based order founded on the principles of democracy. Germany has vastly benefited from this order and remains today its strongest proponent. Donald Trump, on the other hand, believes in a cultural perception of the West. As he spelled out in a speech in Warsaw, for him the West is a community, based on traditional values, which ultimately serves as a defence alliance against Islam. Trump sees Russia as a part of this alliance and not as a country which is breaching the rules-based order with its aggressive behaviour, occupying Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. This is the reason why he would like to get Russia back into the G7.