Principal among those must be US president Joe Biden, who has made Jimmy Carter’s management of the Tehran hostage crisis in 1979 appear measured and statesmanlike. Americans will not forget his performance, and although they might have wanted out of Afghanistan and their “forever war”, they did not desire a repeat of Saigon. For Nato, and the British, the prospects are equally dispiriting. Britain has left thousands of friends and allies to their fates while the government minister responsible holidayed in Crete. What we are witnessing is the decline of the West and it will have consequences as yet unforeseen for us all.

Source: Irish Examiner August 31, 2021 03:56 UTC