Last weeks World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting exposed rifts between allies that are unlikely to mend.Alan Austinreports from Europe.

CANADAS GLOBAL trade pacts are changing dramatically. Since the mentally declining U.S. PresidentDonald Trumpdenied Canadians free trade with the USA, they are seeking it with China.

This replicates Australias experience some decades earlier although Australias pivot towards China was more gradual and voluntary than Canadas. As Canadian Prime MinisterMark Carneynoted in his celebratedspeechat the WEF meeting in Davos last week, this is a rupture, not a transition.

Canadians can be encouraged that this is safe and beneficial, as Australia has proven it to be.

Carney confirmed that:

As the midterms approach, Trumps politics of force are reshaping both foreign policy and domestic policing.

Shifting global alliances

The current realignments are arguably the most significant since the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed in 1949, shortly after the United Nations began.

As most NATO countries are shifting trade away from the USA, Trump is moving closer to authoritarian regimes that share his desires for repression, violence and dictatorship. His newBoard of Peacehas been joined by Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan, Vietnam, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Qatar and Uzbekistan. Russiaintendsto buy a permanent seat with funds now frozen in the USA.

Real and present danger

The immediate global threat remains having an increasingly erratic despot controlling the worlds most powerful military. Trump has proven he does not care about loss of life. His decision toabandonUSAIDs health programs in poor countries will leave millions to die. He has dismissed objections to his militarymurderingsurviving sailors in the Caribbean last September. His invasion of Venezuela to capture PresidentMadurocaused80 fatalities, which he did not mourn. His refusal to heed the advice of health experts in his first termcausedmore than 800,000 unnecessary American COVID deaths.

This is why European leaders took Trumps threats toinvadeGreenland seriously and were immenselyrelievedwhen he backed down.

Unity in rejecting the international gangster

Although that threat has subsided, at least for a while, the USA is no longertrusted.

UK leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Daveyspokefor many in Britain and beyond last Wednesday:

French PresidentEmmanuel Macroncondemnedthe shift towards a world without rules. Where international law is trampled underfoot and urged the world to reject the law of the strongest.

Donald Trumps second presidency has stripped away the pretence, revealing how fragile democracy becomes when power is exercised without restraint.

Calls for Trumps removal

There is hope that the established international rule of law can be restored, but it is a long shot.

SenatorEd Markeyof Massachusetts and others haveurgedCongress to remove Trump immediately via the Constitutions25th Amendment. This applies when a president dies or is incapacitated.

In this instance, Trumps advanceddementiawould be the trigger, evidenced by his multiple unhinged invasion threats, incoherent speech such as confusing Greenland with Iceland multiple times at Davos, the constant wearisome stream of easily-debunked lies about his non-existent achievements for which he childishly and incessantlydemandsglobal prizes and awards and his countless irrational verbal attacks against foreign heads of state, public figures and alliedsoldiers.

Prominent psychiatrists and medical authorities who have confirmed Trumps advancing decline includeJohn Gartner,Vin Gupta,Elisabeth Zoffmann,Lance Dodes,Vince Greenwood,Harry Segaland the 27 contributors to the volumeThe Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, edited by psychiatrist DrBandy Lee.

The alternative isimpeachmentby Congress, which, according to the U.S. Constitution, can remove the president for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanours.

Supporters of impeachment have abundant grounds. They claimunderminingthe NATO alliance via threats to invade allies constitutes treason, as does Trumpssupportfor Russian PresidentVladimir Putins expansionist plans in Europe.

Instances ofbriberyinclude lavish personal gifts or cryptocurrency donations from billionaires and governments, foreigners renting floors in Trump hotels and, most recently, selling permanent seats on Trumps Board of Peace for one billion dollarscontrolledby him personally as chairman for life.

High crimes and misdemeanours are serious abuses of public trust, not necessarily criminal offences.

By seizing a sitting head of state, Washington has replaced international law with a doctrine of unilateral reach.

Thosealleged, now numbering more than 15, include:

Implications for Australia

Australia is largely insulated from the fallout from Trumps criminal perfidy, having strong trade links already with Japan, South Korea and China. Australiaexportsmore to each of these than to the USA.

A rupture may arise in defence, depending on Trumps tenure. Should he end thealliancewith Britain, thenAUKUSis doomed.

For reasonselaboratedearlier, this would be disastrous for Australias medium-term security, but advantageous in the long run.

If thispropelsAustralia back to Labors 2013 plans to builddaughter-of-Collinssubmarines in South Australia, that would have enormous upside. That proposal requires collaboration with another ship-building nation, such as Sweden, Japan or Germany. Canada could join as well.

Alan Austinis an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him@alanaustin001.

Related Articles

• Trumps MAGA militia strategy and the erosion of restraint
• Trump threats against Fed chief trigger rare global response
• Trump unbound: An assault on democracy at home and abroad
• Western Sahara, Trump and the exposure of international law
• The end of sovereign immunity: Americas new doctrine of capture