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Jan 23, 2026
Headline: An era of distrust emerges between the US and its Western allies
Sub-headline: Donald Trump’s suggestion that the US could seize Greenland by force has exposed the strategic isolation his administration has chosen, in disregard for the country’s commitments. Even though the Republican president abandoned the idea at Davos, the damage to US credibility is substantial.
Editor: Piotr Smolar opens with an Historical Pastish of a ‘Geopolitical Dictionairy’ entry of a imagined future, that loses its historical bite, after the first tourted paragraph! So much for French -what to name it?
One could imagine a concise entry in a geopolitical dictionary: “United States (1944-2025): a global power and leader of the Western bloc, relying on the dollar, an unmatched economy, a peerless military and its influence in the name of liberal values.”
Editor: Reader procede with caution! I will supply the reader with Piotr Smolar’s Cast of Characters, in various guises and self-serving permutations.
American greatness, Afghanistan and Iraq, American exceptionalism, the Davos conference, China, USAID, the US economy and military might, American goodwill, Denmark’s sovereignty, Article 5 of the charter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Ukraine, Washington: the United Kingdom, Israel and Canada, Washington, Brexit, Keir Starmer, MAGA (Make America Great Again), France and Germany, Greenland, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Union, Israel, Gaza Strip, Israel launching strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025, But Trump has sometimes clearly and sometimes brutally twisted Benjamin Netanyahu’s arm or ignored his comments, His vision is of a reconfigured Middle East, free from the Iranian threat, in which Israel and the wealthy Arab states must shoulder their responsibilities together and focus on commerce, In a remarkable patriotic awakening, spurred by Trump’s references to a possible “51st state,” the country is reconsidering its place in the Western world, Carney described a “rupture” underway, without naming the US directly, But the warning was clear: “Hegemons cannot continually monetize their relationships.” Trump appears to believe the opposite.
Editor: Reader at your leasure you can knit together this collection usable fragments, into a self-serving whole?
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