Analysis: World leaders are facing crises on all fronts. Putin will be watching if they fail

Optimism was in the air at the Cornish beach resort of Carbis Bay in 2021 as the Over the next few days, the leaders of Japan, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, the European Union and host Germany will meet amid the seclusion of Bavaria’s luxurious Last year’s G7 was all about net zero and a green pandemic recovery, but this year’s scramble by Western nations to wean themselves off Russian oil and gas has given a boost to the biggest single contributor to the crisis — coal. G7 host Germany is now in crisis mode as Russia reduces its gas supplies to the country, weaponizing energy for influence as feared — it is now saying it will fire up more coal plants. That’s a U-turn from last November, when Germany brought forward its deadline to phase out coal to 2030, eight years earlier than planned. After Russia’s invasion, it also expedited plans to transition its power sector to 100% renewables by five years. Johnson — who said last year the world had reached a point of no return in phasing out coal — just this week suggested the UK start mining the fossil fuel again for steelmaking. The country will also delay a plan to shut down more existing coal plants ahead of winter. And to address the oil crisis, Biden is suggesting a tax holiday on fuel as prices at the pump soar.Economic pressures In their Carbis Bay goal to “build back better,” the G7 nations never got their heads around the stuttering return to a pre-Covid normality. Canceled flights and China has refused to denounce Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and both have become bellicose towards what they see as the vested interests of the world’s leading democracies — the G7 nations — against them. They know developing world problems impact G7 nations before them — as most migrants choose to go to developed countries that will protect their rights — and seem willing to leverage world crises to their advantage, leaving the G7 to weather the coming storm alone. But so far, despite differing relations with Russia, the G7 is holding together. France’s Emmanuel Macron has talked to Putin more than any other G7 leader over the past year, and insists that Russia “should not be humiliated,” while Biden accuses Russia of having “fueled a global energy crisis,” by invading Ukraine and his defense chief Lloyd Austin says Putin should be “weakened.”What’s clear is that this G7 has more riding on it than past meetings: Success will come in mitigating the crises, not stopping them. Failure is exactly what Putin wants.