The myth of British military power ended at Suez. The myth of American military power may be ending at the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s war against Iran has no clearly defined strategic objectives, no endgame, and no obvious way of judging success or failure. It is, above all, an exercise in image-building: projecting American strength, … Read more
Trump is bonkers Donald Trump’s speech to the World Economic Forum at Davos was a rambling, incoherent mess. His letter to the Prime Minister of Norway was equally unhinged, blaming Norway’s failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize for the crisis over Greenland. He appears not to understand the difference between Norway and Denmark … Read more
On the morning of January 3, U.S. forces struck Caracas, seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and flew them out of the country. Once again, the United States has undertaken a military operation that was efficiently executed in pursuit of an uncertain political objective. A dramatic first step has been taken, while the … Read more
America in 2025: When the Cosplay Became Real For years, America’s slide toward authoritarian politics could be dismissed as performance: ironic fascism, meme politics, men in red hats playing at being strongmen. Loud, ugly, but unserious. In 2025, that alibi no longer works. The Republican Party is no longer flirting with extremism — it is … Read more
The United States has published its new National Security Strategy. It is a strange document: steeped in conspiratorial thinking, openly ideological, and almost unrecognisable as a traditional American foreign policy text. It is so odd, in fact, that the temptation is to dismiss it as unserious — roughly as plausible as Donald Trump’s repeated plans … Read more