Practicing the Art of No Deal

International summitry may be mostly symbolic, but the symbolism is far from empty, and some powerful leaders are wondering what we'd do without it. On Jun 29, 2019, officials locked away in the negotiating room at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka Japan. They'd been working without a break for two days, and yet were no closer to drafting a communique that all the world leaders present could accept. Forums such as the G-20 and the Aug 24-26, 2019 meeting of the G-7 in France were first dreamed up in the 1970s as a place for foreign officials to come together, quarrel, and ultimately resolve issues. That foundation is beginning to crack. In the age of the strongman leader embodied by Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and especially since the election of US President Donald Trump, disrupting international norms has become a norm in itself.