JOEL KOTKIN: Sometimes History Demands A Bastard: Some leaders in Europe may resist a new alliance with Trump’s America, but in a world dominated by bullies, sharp elbows and unpredictability may be what the times demand. “The new realpolitik marks the end of an era in which politics was defined largely by ideology and religion. As in the 19th century, world events now revolve around control of markets, resources, technology, and military aptitude. In this new paradigm, institutions like the United Nations and the International Court of Justice are largely irrelevant, as are climate confabs and the high-minded pronunciamentos of the World Economic Forum. Joe Biden’s foreign policy was informed by Wilsonian notions of global liberalism, an ideology that also permeated US policy during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Although these administrations approached foreign relations very differently, they both embraced the allegedly democratising influence of free trade and the need to protect the ‘rules-based’ postwar order. Yet the legacy of this approach has been involvement in open-ended wars that often resulted in strategic defeats.”