"Imagine you were Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping and you woke up a year ago having magically been given command of puppet strings that control the White House. Your explicit geopolitical goal is to undermine trust in the United States on the world stage. You want to destroy the Western rules-based order that has preserved peace and security for 80 years, which allowed the US to triumph as an economic superpower and beacon of hope and innovation for the world."
"In the first three weeks of 2026, Trump's Mad King rantings about Greenland have accelerated into something far more stunning and alarming: A superpower is choosing to self-immolate and torch its remaining global trust and friendships, including and especially NATO, the most potent geopolitical alliance in world history, at the precise moment when it had been reinvigorated and renewed and at its strongest and largest ever in the wake of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022."
"In fact, the split-screen juxtaposition of three events this week-Trump's own nearly two-hour commemoration of his one-year anniversary as president; the gathering of defiant, rattled global elites in snowy Davos; and the spectacle of Denmark and its European allies building up a military force in Greenland with the express purpose of deterring a US military takeover-might someday be seen as heralding the official end of the grand experiment in a rules-based international order that has kept watch since World War II."
Donald Trump's actions concerning Greenland, Minneapolis, and Venezuela have accelerated a decline in U.S. international credibility. A rules-based Western order that preserved peace and enabled American economic dominance for eight decades faces erosion from impulsive, personal presidential decisions. Global elites reacted with alarm at Davos while Denmark and European allies reinforced Greenland to deter a possible U.S. takeover. NATO and long-standing alliances face strain as U.S. behavior undermines trust at a moment when collective security had been strengthened by response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The pattern of reckless unilateralism risks inviting adversaries to capitalize on American self-inflicted weakness.
Read at WIRED
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