French President Emmanuel Macron at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France near Paris on September 8, 2023 (Victor Velter/Shutterstock.com)
Foreign leaders are lashing out at President Donald Trump for turning the world into a "robber's den."
Both French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sounded the alarm that the rules-based international order was at risk, reported The Guardian.
Over the weekend, Trump invaded Venezuela and captured former President Nicolás Maduro. Since then, his advisors have talked about "buying" Greenland, despite Greenlanders seeking their own independence.
“The US is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from the international rules that it was until recently promoting,” Macron said on Thursday.
“Multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively,” he continued. “We are living in a world of great powers, with a real temptation to divide up the world.”
France “rejects the new colonialism and new imperialism – but also vassalage and defeatism. What we have achieved for France and in Europe is a step in the right direction. Greater strategic autonomy, less dependence on the US and China.”
Steinmeier appeared on Wednesday evening at an event for his 70th birthday. He warned that global democracy was in danger. Citing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he said the behavior of the United States was a second "epochal rupture."
He added that the world is witnessing a “breakdown of values by our most important partner, the US, which helped build this world order."
The Guardian noted that the president of Germany is largely a ceremonial position, while the head of government is the Chancellor.
“It is about preventing the world from turning into a robber’s den, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want," said Steinmeier.
Smaller countries are at risk of becoming "completely defenceless," and those countries could end up "as the property of a few great powers."
He wants to see European nations come together to review policies to ensure "we are taken seriously, also militarily."
"We must not be weak," he said.