Crisis of leadership in the West, and we can’t help

(From L) Morocco's King Mohammed VI, US First Lady Melania Trump, US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron attend a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on November 11, 2018. Picture: AFP

Across the Western world, a crisis of leadership is deepening. Sure, Donald Trump runs rampant in the US and presents us with one version of leadership. He has convinced the dispossessed and the disgruntled that he will “make America great again”.

The bewildered Democrats seem to have no idea of how to take him on. The recent mid-term elections did give them control of the House of Representatives, but serious Republican gains in the Senate make it hard to see how Trump’s critics can claim victory.

The really worrying sign for the Democrats was obvious observing who attended the party’s rallies. Barack Obama and his vice-president, Joe Biden, did much of the spruiking. Biden is in his mid-seventies and Nancy Pelosi, almost 80, is again seeking the Speaker’s gavel. No younger man or woman has stood up to claim the right to carry the Democrat dream. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are fading memories. No matter how he behaves, Trump has it sewn up.

Across the Atlantic in Britain, Theresa May hangs on by a gossamer thread while always looking upwards, waiting for the guillotine to fall. Brexit remains ridiculously shaky and her Chequers deal has failed to fire up the Europeans. Boris Johnson continues to sledge his Prime Minister but apparently lacks the courage and the numbers to challenge her for her job. The Brexit deliberations are stuck in thick mud and going nowhere. Just like on every other issue in Britain, there is no leader to take up the cudgels.

Then in France, Emmanuel Macron is about as popular as Malcolm Turnbull is in the Liberal Party. He faces massive trade union resistance and his honeymoon is well and truly over.

As usual, no one seems to be in charge in Italy, but that has been the case since the end of the World War II.

Finally, Angela Merkel is talking about stepping back from her role as strongwoman. Ever since she was crazy enough to say the endless flood of African refugees would be welcome in Germany, her stocks have been on the slide.

At least Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan has demonstrated that some degree of stability can coexist with all the strains of running a modern economy.

In China, anyone who dared to tackle Xi Jinping would need his head read. Unburdened by that troublesome concept called democracy, the Chinese challenge the world to stop their expansion.

There was a time when Australia would stand out like a beacon of stability. But five prime ministers in the last few years makes us look like one of the biggest dopes. Don’t be depressed just lie back and think of England. Whoops, make that France. Whoops …