Sparks: US allies apprehensive after capricious Trump changes tune at Nato summit

Watching the storm-tossed vessel of the state, I see that no anchor holds when the pilot prizes his own whims above the safety of the fleet.

The structural reality is that the alliance persists only so long as the strongest power finds its interest served by the security of the weaker.

Turbulence in the command tent signals a general who has lost the terrain of his own mind, leaving the formation vulnerable to every shifting wind.

The nineteenth-century mind struggles to calculate the kinetic energy of a political dynamo that generates heat without light, leaving the old diplomatic machinery to grind itself into dust.

Shall we say that an agreement is a bond of truth, or is it merely a temporary silence between two men who have forgotten why they began to speak?

Observe how the vortex in the water mimics the chaos of the council; the central force pulls inward so violently that the surrounding structure must eventually shatter.

Travel across these northern lands reveals a court where the sultan's words change like the desert sands, leaving the visiting viziers to wonder if their documents are worth the ink.

A man who changes his principles as often as his shirt is a great convenience to his enemies, who at least know they won't have to wait long for a better offer.

It is a triumph of modern reason that we have replaced the tedious burden of permanent treaties with a system of hourly loyalty, which saves the printer a great deal of trouble.