THREAD: I asked a Berlin taxi driver last week what he thought of Russia, China and the U.S. Without hesitating, he said Russia and China were reliable and consistent partners while the U.S. was erratic and turbulent. 1/8 
A driver's strategic analysis, while prescient, was still just the musings of a single Berliner...though his sentiment is been borne out in a recent @TheAtlantic article. 2/8 theatlantic.com/international/…
Everywhere you go in Berlin, something strange has happened. The Old Communist East of the city is now the center of revival and gentrification. The West, by contrast, is decaying. A very tangible reflection of the shift in the global balance of power, from West to East. 3/8
The Trump White House makes no secret of its Eastward leanings, too. The administration's Wess Mitchell says the West was asleep at the wheel. 4/8
Indeed, Angela Merkel's coalition government is facing collapse at the hands of a towering Bavarian politician, Horst Seehofer. 5/8 dw.com/en/angela-merk…
While Merkel flounders, the 31-year-old Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz,is taking Europe farther right with anti-immigration policies. 6/8 washingtonpost.com/world/europe/a…
As Chinese and Russian influence grows, Europe is swinging into far-right populist territory with policies not seen since the 1940's. It should leave leaders of the shrinking club of liberal democracies wondering if they are next in line? 7/8
The swing in the balance of power could result in the tangible fracture of NATO. If @realDonaldTrump attends the NATO summit next month, he could well light the fuse which could signal the end of the alliance. 8/8 nytimes.com/2018/06/26/wor…
Trump’s Tantrum at the G7 was a precursor to a trade war with allies. He told @JustinTrudeau NATO was as bad as NAFTA. The NATO summit could signal the end of the alliance and give Putin a carte blanche for Russian expansionism.
