Dead West

The West is officially dead:

Asked by Die Zeit whether she is now the leader of the Western World now President Trump is back in office — former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been called the same by liberal Europeans in Trump’s first term — and if the EU is now the main guarantor of Western values, Von der Leyen demurred, but repeatedly made the point an old order had fallen and a new one is being crafted. She said: “When the Wall fell in 1990, the end of history was proclaimed. “Now history is back, and so are geopolitics. And we see that what we had perceived as a world order is becoming a world disorder, triggered not least by the power struggle between China and the United States, but of course also by Putin’s imperialist ambitions. That is why we need another, new European Union that is ready to go out into the big wide world and to play a very active role in shaping this new world order that is coming.” Von der Leyen’s remarks throughout are full of implicit criticism of the Trump administration without mentioning him by name, with repeated assertions that the European Union offers a haven of stability during global change.

The old West has been replaced by the new, unimproved version...