Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president, said the erosion of the world order had already reached an advanced stage. Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA
Steinmeier, speaking on Wednesday night at a symposium in Berlin to mark his 70th birthday, said global democracy was at risk. The former German foreign minister said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a watershed, but subsequent US behaviour marked a second “epochal rupture”.There had been a “breakdown of values by our most important partner, the US, which helped build this world order”, said the president, whose role is largely ceremonial. “It is about preventing the world from turning into a robber’s den, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want.”
Steinmeier said the erosion of the world order had already reached an advanced stage. Smaller, weaker states risked becoming “completely defenceless”, and entire regions could be treated “as the property of a few great powers”.
There’s really nothing to offer by way of response. Hand-wringing, injured protests of betrayal? Macron and Steinmeier both mouth phrases about „Europe“ becoming a military power, but Germany was unwilling to transport trucks of helmets into Ukraine four years ago, and to this day is unwilling to recognize the US destruction of Nord Stream II. How can Steinmeier possibly imagine Europe being any sort of counter to the US? This is very much how I see German society as a whole: posturing about ethical behavior and international law while saying Netanyahu is welcome to come visit, noises about monitoring Russian ships as if the Baltic is a NATO lake, happy to have Russia as a created enemy because that allows Germany to continue seeing the US as a back up in the good fight, rather than have to look at the US as „the most unscrupulous take whatever they want“.