The collapse of the old geopolitical order.
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.”
-Bart De Wever, the Belgian Prime Minister, quoting Antonio Gramsci.
Trump's America may or may not take Greenland. They may or may not use force, but either way, this current crisis marks a landmark change in world politics. And - as Mark Carney correctly analyses - it's not a transition but a rupture. One by one, Western leaders are arriving at the painful but inevitable conclusion that Donald Trump's America is no longer a geopolitical ally. In fact, for various reasons, it's our most serious geopolitical threat.
Greenland is not the only issue, but it's the issue that has brought this to a head. The USA, until very recently considered the 'leader of the free world', is happy to invade and take over the territory of a sovereign ally because it wants to loot its mineral wealth and has calculated that its former allies lack the strength or will to stand up to it. It pays no heed to international law, its own laws or any prior agreements and does not care one iota about damage done to anybody else.
Obviously, we need to talk about using tariffs and gunboat diplomacy, but the agenda runs even deeper. America's latest national security strategy explicitly mentions that it wants to bolster hard-right 'nationalist' parties and has pretty much written the great replacement theory narrative into official state strategy doctrine. They have told us who they are, and we should listen. America projects strength and Europe projects weakness, says Scott Bessent. Maybe it's time for Europe to project strength?
The EU, combined with Britain and Canada, can be a significant power in a new tri-polar world order. Individually, none of these nations can stand up to Trump in negotiations, but collectively, they have close to a fifth of the world economy and can have tremendous negotiation power.
Though I am not a fan of either, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney are the leaders who have first grasped the geopolitical urgency of the situation and know that appeasing a bully is a path to ruin.
[media=https://youtu.be/6Lvu6WPuRS0]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/21/mark-carney-davos-canadian-prime-minister-donald-trump-new-world-order
My native Britain also needs to embed itself within this resistance and threaten Trump tariff for tariff, tax for tax, one for all and all for one.
This is not just about Trump. The Republican Party generally thinks the same. JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio or whoever will offer continuation of US policy. If there are still somewhat free elections in America (and there may well not be), then a Democrat might not win and might not fully roll back what Trump has done (domestically or internationally). To say the least, we can't rely on this, and we have to adjust. And now.
In addition, Western nations need to begin the process of completely decoupling their military and security apparatuses from America. A task particularly urgent in Britain, as spelt out by Zack Polanksi, the British Green Party leader.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/01/trumps-threat-to-greenland-must-be-a-wake-up-call-for-britain
Yes, the old world order had plenty of hypocrisies and the rules were often broken, particularly by America itself. However, what is happening now is not the same. It's the end of old assumptions, and this is a dangerous time. Now there are no rules left to break, just brute force and a decaying world superpower led by people with boundless cynicism. This is the reality, and we adapt or die.
-Bart De Wever, the Belgian Prime Minister, quoting Antonio Gramsci.
Trump's America may or may not take Greenland. They may or may not use force, but either way, this current crisis marks a landmark change in world politics. And - as Mark Carney correctly analyses - it's not a transition but a rupture. One by one, Western leaders are arriving at the painful but inevitable conclusion that Donald Trump's America is no longer a geopolitical ally. In fact, for various reasons, it's our most serious geopolitical threat.
Greenland is not the only issue, but it's the issue that has brought this to a head. The USA, until very recently considered the 'leader of the free world', is happy to invade and take over the territory of a sovereign ally because it wants to loot its mineral wealth and has calculated that its former allies lack the strength or will to stand up to it. It pays no heed to international law, its own laws or any prior agreements and does not care one iota about damage done to anybody else.
Obviously, we need to talk about using tariffs and gunboat diplomacy, but the agenda runs even deeper. America's latest national security strategy explicitly mentions that it wants to bolster hard-right 'nationalist' parties and has pretty much written the great replacement theory narrative into official state strategy doctrine. They have told us who they are, and we should listen. America projects strength and Europe projects weakness, says Scott Bessent. Maybe it's time for Europe to project strength?
The EU, combined with Britain and Canada, can be a significant power in a new tri-polar world order. Individually, none of these nations can stand up to Trump in negotiations, but collectively, they have close to a fifth of the world economy and can have tremendous negotiation power.
Though I am not a fan of either, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Carney are the leaders who have first grasped the geopolitical urgency of the situation and know that appeasing a bully is a path to ruin.
[media=https://youtu.be/6Lvu6WPuRS0]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/21/mark-carney-davos-canadian-prime-minister-donald-trump-new-world-order
My native Britain also needs to embed itself within this resistance and threaten Trump tariff for tariff, tax for tax, one for all and all for one.
This is not just about Trump. The Republican Party generally thinks the same. JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio or whoever will offer continuation of US policy. If there are still somewhat free elections in America (and there may well not be), then a Democrat might not win and might not fully roll back what Trump has done (domestically or internationally). To say the least, we can't rely on this, and we have to adjust. And now.
In addition, Western nations need to begin the process of completely decoupling their military and security apparatuses from America. A task particularly urgent in Britain, as spelt out by Zack Polanksi, the British Green Party leader.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2026/01/trumps-threat-to-greenland-must-be-a-wake-up-call-for-britain
Yes, the old world order had plenty of hypocrisies and the rules were often broken, particularly by America itself. However, what is happening now is not the same. It's the end of old assumptions, and this is a dangerous time. Now there are no rules left to break, just brute force and a decaying world superpower led by people with boundless cynicism. This is the reality, and we adapt or die.
41-45, M
