Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned against turning global politics into “a den of robbers”
The flouting of international norms by the US is making the world more dangerous, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said.
His remarks came after US President Donald Trump ordered a commando raid into Venezuela, abducting its president, Nicolas Maduro, and renewed plans to establish control over Greenland from Denmark.
“There is the breakdown of values by our most important partner, the USA, which helped build this world order,” Steinmeier said on Wednesday during a symposium at the Koerber Foundation held in honor of his 70th birthday, as cited by Reuters.
He urged efforts to prevent “the world from turning into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of a few great powers.”
“Attempts are being made to push even medium-sized states – and that includes us – to the margins of history, while small and weaker states are left completely unprotected,” Steinmeier added.
French President Emmanuel Macron also warned about the “risks to the international order in which we live.”
“The United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules it was still promoting until recently, whether in trade, certain aspects of security, or various international forums,” Macron told the French diplomatic corps in Paris on Thursday. He earlier said that he did not approve “the method” of ousting Maduro by the US.
Trump told The New York Times in an interview published on Thursday that he did not “need international law,” and that he was relying on his own judgment instead. “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me,” he said.
The US framed its military action in Venezuela as a police operation to capture Maduro, whom Trump accused of drug trafficking. Maduro pleaded not guilty when he was brought before a New York judge on Monday, describing himself as “a prisoner of war.” Venezuela condemned the US raid as a blatant violation of its sovereignty.
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