Originally Posted by Rob B.
Marty, who is the "West"? In my opinion The West is not what it used to be.

Trump is rapidly destabilizing the West. America is starting trade wars with almost all of their previous allies. The US dollar has lost over 5% during these past couple of days. It could happen that America would have to do everything on their own in the future.

Rob,

To me, The West is what it has always been, "Western Civilization." Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Europe, Scandinavia, Western Hemisphere post Columbus.

As far as Trump destabilizing the West?
You see it that way. I see him disrupting and re-setting it. It's a gamble but it should result in a stronger "West."

In his 1st term, he told NATO and the EU, that they weren't meeting their defense expenditure obligations. So some of them started meeting them.
In his second, he is telling them, they cannot default the Ukraine-Russia problem to the US and draw us into another expensive endless war. As a result, some of them, are stepping up to take some charge.

The end result is a stronger EU and NATO...though pissed at Trump for his tactics, I suppose.

As for the Russians, getting along optimally well, with a "gas stop with nukes," is better than not.
And if it works out that they invade Finland or Poland, NATO and the EU will have more firepower and readiness to use it.

https://soundcloud.com/sunset-poet-of-texas