The West

In the final installment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which hit the big screen in 2003, at the climactic battle against the satanic forces of Mordor, Aragorn, leader of the Free Peoples, gives an inspiring speech to his allied forces:

"By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

This phrase - "Men of the West" - and the rather blatant real-world geopolitical resonance which lies behind it, was not in Tolkien's original 1955 novel. It is very much a product of the culture of "the Western world" of the early '00s, the very heart of that rosy interbellum period: that progressive, capitalist hubris, following the end of the Cold War but before the 2008 shock, when the future was clearly the Third Way and by and most of the world seemed to be on the same page about what was what.

It feels terribly quaint now.

"The West" is over. There is no more Western bloc, no united front. Turkey makes a mockery of NATO by linking a WW1 victory against the UK to Islamophobic terrorism in New Zealand, while Italy cosies up to China and the US threatens trade war with the EU generally. The UK's vote to leave the EU, while doubtless in part symptomatic of the same malaise, pales in contrast: thus far it has by and large been managed in a traditional, broadly amicable manner, despite the deep-seated mistrust, resentment and self-interest on both sides.

Of course, as I write, March 29th is only around the corner and there is still no deal on the table that Parliament is able to support. The EU/UK relationship has already changed dramatically and may do so again. There is no guarantee that my own country will continue to behave like a grown-up once Theresa May is finally forced to step down, and the recession that it would undoubtedly provoke in the eurozone (as well as the UK, most likely) is hardly likely to incline continental leaders to continue extending their patience, never mind hold themselves to a higher standard.

It is very easy to bash Donald Trump in Europe. Unlike in the US, on the more liberal, social-democratic side of the Atlantic, at least in the wealthier countries, support for the current president has always been the preserve of a small minority. Blaming him for the disintegration of the West is unlikely to be a contentious position.

Nevertheless, while Brexit was a noticeable tear in the fabric of the Western bloc's cohesion, the election of Donald Trump slashed open the seam. The rhetoric of friendship and alliance evaporated almost overnight. Trump makes no secret of his disdain for the EU, even recently describing the organisation as an enemy of the US. One senses that European leaders can scarcely hold their tongues when the president simultaneously demands they take his word for it that Huawei cannot be trusted with national infrastructure because China are the baddies, and threatens to close the US market to European automotive industry.

We have all but forgotten, amidst our petty, grasping squabbles, that there remain far more significant threats. Nobody has time any more for the South China Sea, or to prioritise political engagement with rapidly developing powers in the southern hemisphere, notably India and Nigeria. That Assad remains in control of Syria, and Russia continues to illegally occupy the Crimean peninsular, have fallen entirely off the agenda.

At the worst possible moment, just when we least could afford to present such a cacophonous and obvious show of disunity, we have deliberately and ignorantly chosen to forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship. The world of Men will fall, and all will come to darkness - and my city to ruin.

There was a time not so very long ago when the West was the civilisation which everyone else wanted to be. It was synonymous with wealth, prosperity, success. Now we are the gaunt shadow of our former self. A mockery, a pale imitation of our former stature.

That is the measure of our decline.

Not that there is even a "we" any more.