Dem
47
GOP
53
The leaders of seven of the most powerful democracies have been getting together every June since 1975 to discuss the world. Some AI CEOs also showed up, even though their companies are not technically countries. This year the G7 was at Évian-les-bains, France, a resort on Lac Léman, about 40 miles northeast of Geneva. The meeting concluded yesterday. Here is a photo of the room where they met. Other than President of the E.U. Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Italian P.M. Giorgia Meloni, and Japanese P.M. Sanae Takaichi, not a lot of women here:
Can you imagine anything useful happening in such a big group? We can't. Offline, French President Emmanuel Macron talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that was picked up by a hot mic nearby. Macron told Zelenskyy that he had a difficult discussion with Donald Trump the day before and said he would arrange for Zelenskyy to have a (difficult) meeting with Trump before it was over. Macron did invite Trump to dinner at Versailles. Trump agreed but complained Versailles was not beautiful enough. Weird, because it's absolutely chock-full of gold accents.
Did the summit achieve anything? A little. The leaders agreed to support Ukraine's sovereignty and will provide more interceptors and long-range missiles to back that up. The long-range missiles are important because missile strikes inside Russia make everyday Russians aware of the war and make them feel some of the damage. Trump signed the joint statement, but didn't make any promises about weaponry or munitions. The declaration cited Trump three times, making him feel important. The other leaders now understand that if they treat Trump the way they would treat a three-year-old, that helps a lot.
The leaders also talked about the Strait of Hormuz, but didn't come up with a way of protecting it. They did talk about alternatives, though. In particular, they asked P.M. Mark Carney of Canada to significantly increase Canada's capacity to export energy. That could be doable.
Trump held a press conference after the meeting. He said what people most wanted to hear was that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. None of the other leaders dared say out loud that they think Trump's deal is horrible and that they are far from convinced that the Iranians will keep any promises they make. After all, it would spoil the mood if they said obvious things like that. (V)