(Reuters) – The President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, harshly criticized the United States’ foreign policy under President Donald Trump and urged the world not to let the international order disintegrate into a ‘den of thieves’, where unscrupulous people take what they want.
In exceptionally strong comments, which appeared to refer to actions such as the weekend’s removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the former Foreign Minister said that global democracy is being attacked like never before.
Although the role of the German president is largely ceremonial, his words carry some weight and he has more freedom to express opinions than politicians.
Describing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the large-scale invasion of Ukraine as watershed events, Steinmeier said that the behavior of the U.S. represented a second historic rupture.
‘Then, there is the breakdown of values by our most important partner, the United States, which helped build this world order,’ Steinmeier said in comments at a symposium on Wednesday evening.
‘It is about preventing the world from turning into a den of thieves, where the most unscrupulous take what they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of some great powers,’ he said.
Active intervention is necessary in situations of threat and countries such as Brazil and India must be convinced to safeguard the world order, he said.
