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No, more a sum of European public broadcasting, following multiple international defence analysts on a regular basis, studying history and majoring in US foreign policy back in the 80s, watching events unfold in Europe post 1989, living here, you know, that kind of bubble perspective thing you are struggling to shoehorn me into. It's a pretty big bubble.
It's also the failed logic of zero sum game. "Why are we 'letting' the rest of the world benefit from our largess?". When of course we are also benefitting greatly and wouldn't have so much largess without the rest of the world. They view anything that some one else 'gets' as something they lost. It's a stupidly naive view of the world that most people grow out of by the time they are 6 years old.
Because Trump wants his name on something for history's sake (silly to think it wouldn't get changed), and he seems intent on going as far as necessary to avoid whatever the hell is in the Epstein files.
He's going to get it. His name will be synonymous with the greatest re-alignment post WW 2. The re-alignment that moved the US out of the global top spot and handed control of world trade and influence to a toss up of BRICs nations. It will be the biggest unforced error ever, and he will be remembered for it.
A nation with a $38 Trillion debt, 30% of it owned by foreign nations, does not, in point of fact, hold all the cards.
A nation who imports 27% of consumer goods, 26% of capital goods, and 25% of its industrial supplies does not hold all the cards.
A nation that imports nearly every phone, every laptop, every server, every data storage device, every network communications device, outsources most of its software, and cannot function socially, militarily, or economically without those devices, does not hold all the cards.
A nation that imports over 90% of potash fertilizer without which its agricultural sector would fail within one growing season does not hold all the cards.
A nation that has to import eight to nine million barrels of oil DAILY in order to keep its refineries in efficient operation does not hold all the cards.
A nation that imports nearly 50% of its name brand prescription drugs and 90% of generics, and furthermore imports nearly 70% of active ingredients for domestic manufacture, does not hold all the cards.
A nation that depends on foreign allies, bases, airspace, sea lanes, supply, and assets to maintain a global military presence does not hold all the cards.
The only card Trump is holding at the moment is the Joker.
preaching to the converted here, but:
It all makes much more sense when seen from a Russian perspective. The war in Ukraine also began with Russian claims that only the mighty Russia could protect Ukraine from foreign nations. "We had to invade it to protect it!!"
Exactly the same playbook. Trump is basically made of the same mafiosi type cloth as Putin. The language of brute force is what he understands, values and history, not so much. So all of this Enlightenment/democratic stuff is just falling on deaf ears.
The point of Trump's move on Greenland is not to serve US national interests (as is patently clear by the fact that the US already can do what it wants with Greenland) but Russian ones:
i.e. dismantle NATO and let Russia pick off European nations one by one. It's as though Russia is mentally still stuck in 1944, and thinks the US will provide the materiel with Russia providing the boots on the ground. Trump has allowed them to indulge in this retro-Soviet fantasy.
Likewise, the whole revival of the Monroe doctrine is straight out of Dugin's sphere of influence ideas. The US gets hegemony over the Americas, Russia over Europe and China over Asia. The part they don't say, is that the US must give up its influence over the EU for this to happen. Which I guess pleases the isolationists back in the States, but, apart from then and the Russians, nobody else actually.
It's also the failed logic of zero sum game. "Why are we 'letting' the rest of the world benefit from our largess?". When of course we are also benefitting greatly and wouldn't have so much largess without the rest of the world. They view anything that some one else 'gets' as something they lost. It's a stupidly naive view of the world that most people grow out of by the time they are 6 years old.
This is it. Hard to understand how anyone â much less the President of the US â comes to the conclusion that NATO has been bad for America and our European allies should no longer be considered to be, much less valued as, allies.
preaching to the converted here, but:
It all makes much more sense when seen from a Russian perspective. The war in Ukraine also began with Russian claims that only the mighty Russia could protect Ukraine from foreign nations. "We had to invade it to protect it!!"
Exactly the same playbook. Trump is basically made of the same mafiosi type cloth as Putin. The language of brute force is what he understands, values and history, not so much. So all of this Enlightenment/democratic stuff is just falling on deaf ears.
The point of Trump's move on Greenland is not to serve US national interests (as is patently clear by the fact that the US already can do what it wants with Greenland) but Russian ones:
i.e. dismantle NATO and let Russia pick off European nations one by one. It's as though Russia is mentally still stuck in 1944, and thinks the US will provide the materiel with Russia providing the boots on the ground. Trump has allowed them to indulge in this retro-Soviet fantasy.
Likewise, the whole revival of the Monroe doctrine is straight out of Dugin's sphere of influence ideas. The US gets hegemony over the Americas, Russia over Europe and China over Asia. The part they don't say, is that the US must give up its influence over the EU for this to happen. Which I guess pleases the isolationists back in the States, but, apart from then and the Russians, nobody else actually.
Because Trump wants his name on something for history's sake (silly to think it wouldn't get changed), and he seems intent on going as far as necessary to avoid whatever the hell is in the Epstein files.
But anyone defending what's happened so far in 2026... as strategy, or defense, or finance... is incapable of reason and/or admission. It's not really open for debate.
Exactly...the republicans have no defense other than they are looking to structurally change the systems, law and orders of this country.
The debacle Trump handed our most important allies and the world at Davos is perhaps the most significant blunder made by a POTUS in my many decades of paying attention.
It is beyond outrageous that he forced our allies to seriously consider that the USA may make a unilateral power move against a fellow NATO member. This will be very costly in many important ways. A ruptured, not fractured, sense of trust, for which we once considered ourselves the gold standard, is and will be among the results of his malfeasance and betrayal.
Trump 2.0 is a disaster. His obvious incompetence, criminality, senility, and venality deserve the strongest possible rebuke. An honorable person would resign.
This is the weird part. More than anyone else, we have benefitted from the alliance that we forged for the new world order over the last 8 decades. Yes, it was a lot of our money and energy, but it also brought enormous benefits. Access to other markets and resources, generalized peace, vast expenditures for our military industrial complex for the exceptions to the peace (which barely registered in the homeland beyond the impacted personnel), a position of deference that allowed us to break our own rules at will while holding others to them.
Not debating this but...
At this point I dont blame trump as much as the republicans who once "nearly" impeached him, but now embrace his insanity.
You could also say...an ineffective, organized response from democrats.
There's enough blame to go around...
But anyone defending what's happened so far in 2026... as strategy, or defense, or finance... is incapable of reason and/or admission. It's not really open for debate.
The debacle Trump handed our most important allies and the world at Davos is perhaps the most significant blunder made by a POTUS in my many decades of paying attention.
It is beyond outrageous that he forced our allies to seriously consider that the USA may make a unilateral power move against a fellow NATO member. This will be very costly in many important ways. A ruptured, not fractured, sense of trust, for which we once considered ourselves the gold standard, is and will be among the results of his malfeasance and betrayal.
Trump 2.0 is a disaster. His obvious incompetence, criminality, senility, and venality deserve the strongest possible rebuke. An honorable person would resign.
Not debating this but...
At this point I dont blame trump as much as the republicans who once "nearly" impeached him, but now embrace his insanity.
You could also say...an ineffective, organized response from democrats.
