Here's How the Rest of the World Covered Trump's Disastrous G-7 Performance | Alternet

Foreign leaders universally see (and rightly so), that Trumps behavior and the direction American policy undermine the legitimacy of "International Institutions."

Here again these institutions are not strictly speaking legitimate to anyone but the multinational corporate elite -- not legitimate to the Greeks, nor the Ukrainians, or Spain, or Portugal and certainly not Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.  So why should I care if the G7 process is damaged by Trump.  Almost everything that the G7 does harms the rank and file and had frequently been vocally protested until after 1999 they locked the meetings down because of fears of another Seattle like WTO "battle".  Anti-union, anti-environmental regulation, pro-war, pro-economic sanctions, anti-democracy, pro-security state.  I oppose their entire agenda. Progressives may ask the question, if American international influence is hereby damaged, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well it certainly may be a dangerous thing to the current world order and unintended consequences and collateral losses, even bloody ones may ensue, but good or bad? -- I can not call that question as most future options in general look pretty bad for us all. I am inclined to watch the decline of these institutions and look for opportunities to organize democratic movements.  Protecting them from Trump is certainly not my fight.


So how about a little background.  For more detailed background on G7 and WTO read this white paper  International Trade Governance and the G7 in theTrump and post-Brexit Era were it is clearly stated:

As the WTO’s Preamble clearly states in its aims: “trade and economic endeavour should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production of and trade in goods and services”

This statement is of course largely bullshit as progressives concluded around the time of NAFTA that it was not about free or fair trade but rather the "freedom to plunder" the rest of the world by the G7. In any case the economic system that is propped up by all this requires unending "steady growth" based on resource extraction, finacialization, a relaxation of regulation and the legal authority to "externalize" the real costs of all this onto the masses and indeed the planet.  This NeoLiberal project  has hit serious end-game limits (or end of the world limits if you prefer) and is increasingly difficult to justify.  Hence the next stage.  Enter the fascist as they march around the world.  Thus current acceleration of the erosion of democratic institutions is functional to the systems survival.

As I have stated about this blog.  I do not have a plan other than being clear about my values of democracy, peace and justice.  I just what to be clear where we are going.

Here's How the Rest of the World Covered Trump's Disastrous G-7 Performance | Alternet:

see latin america for examples of the roll back of democracy.



'via Blog this'