The Great Disruptor

Published: June 15, 2018, 8 a.m.

What is Donald Trump thinking? In one week he calls Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau \u2018dishonest and weak\u2019 and then proceeds to boast of his \u2018terrific relationship\u2019 with the dictator Kim Jong-Un. In just a few days, he riles America\u2019s closest allies at the G7 summit and then signs a nuclear deal with the country considered one of the biggest threats to international security. The president\u2019s critics say he is tearing up the rule book without considering the consequences. His supporters say a new approach to international diplomacy is long overdue. So which is it? Has President Trump decided to abandon the military and political alliances that structured the post-World War II liberal order \u2013 or is he simply reminding old allies not to take the United States for granted? Is \u2018the West\u2019 dead \u2013 or is the alliance mutating into one where the US has more space to put itself \u2018first\u2019. On the Real Story this week, Ritula Shah and a panel of guests considers how we have arrived at this great disruption of the international order \u2013 and where the world is heading.

(Photo credit: Reuters)