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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/17/hope-horizon-trump-netanyahu-putin-powers-waning>
"Feeling depressed about the state of the world? Worried about the future?
You’re not alone. Pessimism about politics is the new normal among the peoples
of the west. Major conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and the harms caused
by right-left extremism, stagnating economies, inequality, corruption,
terrorism, racism, big tech, mass extinctions and the climate crisis make for
shared nightmares.
Growing numbers of people simply refuse to personally engage with current
events via the news media, finding them too anxiety-inducing (so they probably
won’t be reading this). In a Reuters Institute survey last year, 40% of
respondents in about 50 countries said they sometimes or often avoid the news
altogether, a rise of 29% on 2017.
Intense negativity characterises European and, to a lesser degree, North
American political sentiment. In France, 90% of people questioned by Ipsos
believed their country is on the wrong track. In Britain, it was 79%; in
Germany, 77%; in the US, 60%. Europeans feel similarly glum about the bigger,
global picture, unlike the Chinese, Saudis and Nigerians who are broadly
upbeat, according to a GlobeScan survey.
Pew Research Center polling in 25 countries last year found that the US, Russia
and China are seen, by most but not all, as the biggest international threats.
For Turks, for example, Israel is the main menace; for Greeks, it’s the Turks.
It gets more confusing still. Canada is one of several countries in which
majorities regard the US as both the main threat and main ally.
Disenchantment with democracy and dissatisfaction with political leaders is a
ubiquitous, polarising western phenomenon. Divisions grow entrenched. Keir
Starmer, with a 27% approval rating, according to Statista, is struggling to
survive. Yet Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and France’s president,
Emmanuel Macron, are even less popular, on 19% and 18% respectively.
Donald Trump is down to about 38% approval, trailing his nemesis, Canada’s
prime minister, Mark Carney, on 54%. In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s historically
inflated ratings are now badly punctured. Figures for Xi Jinping are
unreliable; in China, freely expressing opinions is dangerous. India is an
exception. A majority frankly adores the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
A non-apathetic alternative to tuning out is switching on to anti-status quo
parties that want, in effect, to blow up the system. They include radical
leftists such as La France Insoumise and hard-right nationalist-populists such
as the Alternative für Deutschland, Reform UK and Maga Republicans. But mostly
they offer anger, not answers. So far, so much more depressing.
How might this tsunami of gloom – this absence of hope – be reversed? Positive
examples are required. And as it happens, encouraging shifts are discernible in
the three countries – Russia, Israel and the US – at the centre of the major
global upheavals of the past decade. Leadership changes sidelining Putin,
Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump – chief riders of the storm – could go a long way
towards changing the zeitgeist."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
