I realise that the Centre Left has been more than a little focused recently on the continuing slow implosion of the Labour Party, however what is happening on the world stage right now as a result of the Trump-Putin and NATO summits is both significant and deeply disturbing.
The president of the United States has not only made it clear that he does not feel compelled to stick to the NATO treaties which have kept the peace in Europe these last 70 years. He has essentially given signals to the Russian president that he might invade one of its members – the tiny state of Montenegro – with impunity.
It may not have been entirely coincidence that Trump elbowed the country’s president out of the way at the previous NATO summit in 2017.
The world now has two people with access to the nuclear button who are clearly aligned with each other, and not in a good way. As I wrote last night:
It is no exaggeration to say the following: if Montenegro now invaded, there will be blood on the current US administration’s hands. If that happens and no NATO response, it will be responsible for all that follows, which could well be all or part of Europe descending into chaos. https://t.co/LOghv4G4Pg— Rob Marchant (@rob_marchant) July 18, 2018
We shall see if this fear turns out to be well-founded. I really hope not. 20th century history has shown us that “little” wars in the Balkans do not always stay that way.