USA: Is America really disintegrating? If so, it's been coming for a long time

There are those who think the United States will not survive its current existential crisis.

One of those, possibly, is former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh. Speaking to me on the podcast "Just Ask the Question" on Wednesday, Walsh said he believes we could see the U.S. splitting into several countries during the next 25 years. "During the lifetime of our children," he suggested.

Read More at: Is America really disintegrating? If so, it's been coming for a long time | Salon.com

USA: Made By Putin? A 21st Century Slow-Burn US Civil War - by Alexei Bayer and Stephan Richter

Periods of leadership vacuum are by their very nature notoriously dangerous. In mature democracies — and the United States certainly considers itself as one — this shouldn’t be so. But it is.

Recall that in medieval Rome, the death of the sitting Pope was usually followed by riots and settling of scores by the city’s princely clans. Putting an end to the chaos was an important incentive for the cardinals to elect a successor as quickly as possible.

Read more at: Made By Putin? A 21st Century Slow-Burn US Civil War - The Globalist

Britain: Leave the monarchy? In Barbados, that's just the first step on a long path to healing

An interview by Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, featuring accusations of racism against the Royal Family may have shocked some who watched it, but for Risée Chaderton-Charles in Barbados, it only sparked a sense of familiarity.

"The monarchy is actually built on a system of class that has been designed to exclude people of colour, so (Meghan's claims) were completely unsurprising to me," equality advocate Chaderton-Charles said in a Zoom interview from Christ Church, about 16 kilometres southeast of the capital, Bridgetown.

Read more at: Leave the monarchy? In Barbados, that's just the first step on a long path to healing | CBC News

NATO: Why the Alliance Between Europe and America is Falling Apart - by John Walcott

When German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas suggested during a June 15 video conference between 28 European Union diplomats and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the U.S. and Europe push Israel and the Palestinians to revive peace talks, Pompeo was diplomatic, refusing to accept or reject the proposal.

The same was true of nearly every other item on the 90-minute call’s agenda, according to U.S. and European officials familiar with the session, who said the disappointing meeting was symptomatic of the steady erosion of the 74-year-old transatlantic alliance since President Donald Trump came to office. Since the end of World War II, the U.S. and its European allies have been united in their commitment to cooperation and democracy, despite repeated dustups. Now, in less than four years of Trump’s America First foreign policy, the allies have become divided on issues that require an urgent and unified response, ranging from China and coronavirus to the Middle East, arms control, and trade. “The EU-U.S. relationship doesn’t exist anymore,” says Heather Conley of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Pompeo did nothing to address — much less repair — the damage during the scheduled summit, said the U.S. and European officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid, as one American put it, “making a bad situation worse.” According to one European diplomat, Pompeo “mailed it in, and the return address was the White House.”

Indeed, it was Trump who set the tone of the meeting, surprising European allies as the meeting began with his plan to slash the number of U.S. troops in Germany, which the Washington deploys to deter Russia and project force in the Middle East and Africa. Trump said he was making the cut because Germany isn’t paying its fair share of European defense costs.

Read more at: 
Why the Alliance Between Europe and America is Falling Apart | Time