rive

France is not alone in being riven and distracted by domestic political disputes.

While Rome was riven by “internecine strife” and Britain ran its empire on a shoestring budget, the U.S. was “constitutionally stable” with “an enormous industrial base.”

But the club has also been riven by bitter arguments over its core mission.

A world increasingly riven by renewed great power rivalries and historic animosities is further weakened by Oval Office instability, exemplified by ill-advised remarks, ill-timed threats and outright lies.

The Times’ Joshua Rothkopf compared its story to Tom Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities,” “a funhouse image of a clashing New York City riven by money, power and race.”