The Guardian view on Germany, Japan and the end of the postwar order: as US alliances crumble, a new world emerges | Editorial

Developments in Berlin and Tokyo show how far the strategic environment has shifted in response to authoritarian threat and American unpredictability When Donald Trump hosted Sanae Takaichi, the Japanese prime minister, last month, he could not resist a gratuitous reference to Pearl Harbor . The US president is impelled to trash longstanding alliances. He has done more than anyone to demolish the postwar global order.