The Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, over the weekend was unusual. It mattered.
Most of these annual summits are vacuous affairs that are quickly forgotten. Their communiqués, endlessly negotiated by diplomats and advisers, rarely have much effect on national policy or world events. Their most important function, besides providing taxpayer subsidized photo-ops where politicians strut their stuff as “world leaders,” is to let heads of government chat informally and size each other up.