Comments by "Major Moolah" (@majormoolah5056) on "G7 alignment u0026 US political challenges | Quick Take | GZERO Media" video.

  1. - Asking the Europeans to take a hard line against China is impossible. All the focus is on Ukraine until that is done. There was already a very heavy economic price to pay for cutting off Russia and supporting the war effort. It is not like anyone had spare billions and weapons lying around. Projections are that economic growth is coming from China opening up after COVID and trading with them. There is also no political bandwidth to do any foreign policy adventures. - I watched the Biden press conference in Japan. There were some questions about Ukraine and the F-16 decision, which reversed his earlier decision. I think there was only one question about the G7 conference itself. The main focus was beyond any doubt on the debt ceiling crisis. So I have to agree with Ian that it sends a very wrong message. Not feeling any Schadenfreude either... just hoping that somehow the dysfunction will subside. - Big topic in European discussion is the reconstruction of Ukraine. Where will the money come from? Some have suggested using the frozen Russian assets. It sounds good from a common sense perspective, but using assets belonging to private persons and institutions is legally speaking very difficult. Another option is shared EU debt. But that is politically very divisive among the member states. There are also questions about the American commitment post-war. It would be good for American interests in Europe to commit to the reconstruction process as well, if this is financially feasible for you. - One point from Macron's press conference was interesting. He said we should not split the world into blocs. This is not something the developing nations have any interest in. Creating two blocs is also a "self-fulfilling prophecy" from a security perspective. Indeed some American senior military figures have commented that there is, as of yet, a strategic military alliance between China and Russia and this is something that should be avoided at all costs. France of course wants to maintain their diplomatic freedom and does not really benefit from lining up too tightly to American interests. I'm willing to bet that other great powers (insert the term that pleases you the most) feel the same. Food for thought. - Another point in the European discussion is definitely American protectionism. Some still hope the negotiations go somewhere and the Americans relent. But with the dysfunction in Washington... how probable that is? I can tell you for sure that this is a major weakness in the American project. Are we really going to have a situation where China is the economic powerhouse and USA is using their security guarantees to leverage other power to go against China? Because that would be an impossibly hard sell to make.
    1