It appears that the international post-war settlements are in turmoil as many of the outcomes and institutions are being consigned to the history stacks by the right wing anti-democratic oligarchs that are surfing the tides of nationalism and populism. Trump has begun his second term with a series of unhinged proposals. The United Nations, NATO and world trade agreements are under threat. Israel and Russia are being given United States support as they raze cities to the ground and ruthlessly kill thousands in Gaza and Ukraine, either with or without American weapons and intelligence. Climate action is being abandoned and across the world a roster of new Rogue States are being nurtured by Trump's disruptive playlist of malevolence.
The United States and Russia, as members of the permanent security council, have the power of veto in the United Nations. This allows them to prevent resolutions that restrict their own interference in the affairs of sovereign states. Other nations have allowed this to happen because they were in the orbit of one of these powers. That could be about to change as the outcome of Trump's game of disruption and furtive alliance with Russia. In the process, respect for the United States from those countries, which had been allies for eighty years, has diminished. It could result in the formation of a new power blocks as influence ebbs away from an increasingly insular and self-serving USA. China is already irrigating its influence in Africa and South America. Europe has been slumbering but has a combined GDP that is equivalent to the United States. However, Europe has been less assertive in its exploiting its power for what should be wider global objectives and values.
According to eurostat, in 2021 China had the largest GDP with 18.9% of the world total. The USA and EU are neck and neck wth 15.5% and 15.2% respectively, followed by India with 7.2% and Russia with 3.8%. But add the UK with 2.3% and other non-EU countries like Norway, Switzerland and Iceland, and Europe has a similar GDP to China and five times that of Russia. If other sympathetic countries like Canada, Australia, Turkey and Japan were added to a new power block, they would have over 25% of the world's GDP. The United States under Trump is undoubtedly giving these countries a justification to transfer their allegiance to a more egalitarian union of nations that is not subservient to the self interests of the USA.
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| eurostat: Comparison of the World's GDP |
The disruptions that Trump has claimed during his address to Congress on his first 42 days since being inaugurated have confirmed the USA becoming an imperialist imposter that has abandoned its allies. Douglas Adams told us that Deep Thought calculated that 42 is the number from which all meaning is derived. A theory that has more resonance with the truth than either Trump or Elon Musk.
