The G7 today

The G7 looks like an alumni of the victors from the two devastating world wars of the 20th century. Definitely not, as historical enemy states from that era, Japan and Germany, are sitting on the table as part of the seven core members. North America and Europe contribute most of this so called select group of seven nations. Past allies like Russia and China from those world wars are now viewed by this mostly Western Alliance as hostile. Asia-Pacific is represented only by Japan. Is the G7 a group of the current and growing powerhouse economies? Banish that idea - Brazil, India, Indonesia and China are not in this group of seven. Smaller economies like Australia and South Africa are asked to attend on the side lines. Someone I know pointed out to me that the G7 nations, except for Canada, all have USA military bases on their soil. Some quarters view the G7 as a core military alliance in a future world war scenario for the 21st century. Instead of seizing an opportunity to further cooperate for peaceful global development, this interpretation emphasises the significance and powerful influence of weapons producers and traders in our politically unstable world. Does the G7 represent one side of a potential clash of civilisations? Or is it a manifestation of one side of an evolving trade war? Some Asians I know view the G7 as an alliance of Western powers, trying to ensure that its long held dominance in geopolitics is not whittled away. The problem with this opinion is why Japan is part of and Russia is not part of the G7. Yet, Africans, Asians apart from Japan, Latin Americans, Indigenous nations and Middle Easterners are notably not members of the G7. So it is definitely an exclusive club. More likely the G7 is an alumni of past and still current dominant powers, which increasingly have to deal with the realities, on various growing fronts, of a quick changing contemporary world. #yongkevthoughts