Trump’s whirlwind tour of Europe, UK and Russia has left the world wondering whether America is keen to preserve the current liberal order. Trump’s description of Merkel as a captive of Russia and open condemnation of May’s brexit plans indicates more than a polite disagreement at the heart of the transatlantic alliance.

“The trade conflict is really a war against China’s rise, to see who has the greater stamina. This is absolutely no time for irresolution or reticence.” This is how Chinese authorities, in a leaked circular, outlined to state media how they should cover the trade spat with the US. The economic fight of the century has now begun. After months of threats of tariffs, on July 6th the US imposed…

The present state system was imposed on the whole world by the European countries and originated from the strife of the Christian Reformation. It reflected some of the salient features of the modern capitalist system, particularly the principle to compromise.

Worsening US-Russia relations are “similar, to a large extent, to what we lived during the Cold War,” said the United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres on the 29th of March, after the US announced that it was expelling 60 Russian diplomats. The expulsions were claimed to be in response to the poisoning in the UK of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on the 4th of March with a Russian military nerve agent…