The summits are not endpoints. They are the mechanism by which two countries, which can neither resolve their differences nor afford to rupture them, manage the interval between crises.
European autonomy - military, technological, economic, and financial - is beginning to take shape as Europe hedges against current and future fluctuations in [U.S.] policy.
But with a maniacal president who cannot tolerate even a simple difference of opinion, a country that dares not to comply with his demands turns into an enemy that must be eliminated.