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NATO? What's that? If you were to ask in Washington these days, you shouldn't be surprised to hear that it's actually the North American Treaty Organization or even the North American Trump Organization. Certainly, many in Europe who, not so very long ago, imagined the United States as their prime protector and benefactor are now facing a distinctly new world. Hey, there are already those Trumpian tariffs on steel, aluminum, and related products that the Europeans have threatened to respond to with tariffs on U.S. whiskey, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and related things that would hit majority Republican states the hardest. And now the American president is threatening to respond by putting 200% -- yes, you read that right -- tariffs on all European wines, champagnes, and related products.
Think of it -- without all that alcohol -- as an all too sobering set of events for those former close allies. In fact, all of this may seem hardly believable today, and yet, 66 years ago, French leader Charles de Gaulle offered this comment on the world of NATO, Europe, and the United States: "Who can say whether in the future political circumstances might not change completely. This has already happened on the face of the earth." He suggested at the time that someday, "after I don't know what political and social upheaval," Washington and Moscow "might even find common cause."
So many years later, we know what De Gaulle couldn't have known then -- that, after much political and social upheaval, Donald Trump would become president of the United States a second time, while Vladimir Putin would still be the president of Russia, and that the two of them, who only recently spoke by phone for two hours (!), might indeed feel more in common than Trump does with either Europe's major powers or NATO. And with all of that in mind, let TomDispatch regular John Feffer (whose weekly column at Foreign Policy in Focus shouldn't be missed) take you into what could indeed be a political dark age for Europe and possibly the rest of this planet, too. Tom
Surviving a Political Dark Age
Fortress Europe Versus Beacon Europe
By John Feffer
The news of Rodrigo Duterte's arrest surprised me.
It's not that I doubted the former leader of the Philippines was guilty of the horrific crimes detailed in his International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. Duterte himself boasted quite openly of the mass killings he's been accused of. But I always thought that the prospects of bringing that brutal, outspoken politician to justice were remote indeed.
After all, Duterte's daughter Sara is currently the vice president of the Philippines and that country is no longer a member of the ICC. On top of that, Duterte himself was so sure of his immunity that he was running for mayor of the city of Davao. In mid-March, after returning from campaigning in the Filipino community in Hong Kong, he suffered the indignity of being arrested in his own country.
Forgive me for saying this, but I just hadn't thought the ICC was still truly functioning, given that the leaders of the most powerful countries on this planet -- the United States, China, and Russia -- don't give a fig about human rights or international law. Sure, the ICC did issue high-profile arrest warrants for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on war crimes charges, but no one expects those rogues to be taken into custody anytime soon. And the impunity for the powerful has only become more entrenched now that a convicted felon squats in the White House.
The specialty of the ICC has, of course, been arresting human-rights abusers in truly weak or failed states like Laurent Gbagbo, former president of Cà à ? ï ? ? ï ? ?te d'Ivoire, and Hashim Thaà à ? ï ? ? ï ? ?i, former president of Kosovo. With the world's 31st largest economy, however, the Philippines is no failed state. Still, without nuclear weapons or a huge army, it's no powerhouse either. Indeed, it was only when the Philippines became ever weaker -- because of a feud between President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte (accused of threatening to assassinate him) -- that the ICC had a chance to grab its target and spirit him away to The Hague to stand trial.
The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte might, in fact, seem like the exception that proves the (new) rule. After all, the international community and its institutions are currently facing a crisis of global proportions with violations of international law becoming ever more commonplace in this era of ascendant right-wing rogue states.
In 2014, Russia first grabbed Ukrainian territory, launching an all-out invasion in 2022. Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, sent troops into southern Lebanon, and expanded its footprint in Syria. President Trump has spoken repeatedly of seizing Greenland, absorbing Canada as the 51st state, and retaking the Panama Canal, among other things. Small countries like Taiwan can't sleep for fear of a late-night visit from jackbooted thugs.
But then there's Europe.
Transatlantic Divergence
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