A summit that would normally send a reassuring message ... faces total uncertainty thanks to the weakness of the United States. The only person to blame for this is Trump.
History has never witnessed a leader quite like Donald Trump — a mix of ignorance, arrogance immorality, brazenness, insensitivity and sheer stupidity.
The challenge for Washington is no longer whether it possesses sufficient capabilities, but whether the political system can align those capabilities behind a coherent long-term priority.
If the President of the United States behaves primarily as the chief negotiator for corporate America, then alliances themselves become contingent commodities.
Even as Washington may call and claim victory, notional or real, the global pain of the brash and so-called bold and illegal strikes will be real for years to come.