The goal of an open world is consistent with a “multialigned” world, a path that many U.S. partners are choosing. India, for instance, has said it is “multialigned” rather than “nonaligned,” as it was during the Cold War.
It works closely with Australia, Japan, and the United States as a member of the Quad, but it also buys large amounts of oil from Russia and maintains relationships with countries strictly based on its own interests. When pressed in 2022 about India “being on the fence” between the West on the one hand, and China and Russia on the other, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar replied:
“Just because I don’t agree with you doesn’t mean I’m sitting on the fence. I’m sitting on my ground.”
Many countries in Asia, Africa, and the Americas feel the same way. They refuse to choose between the United States and China, or between the West and Russia, instead entering relationships and forming partnerships as their national interests dictate. What is true of countries is even truer of other global actors; business leaders and civic groups working to combat climate change, for instance, will forge as many relationships as necessary to achieve their goals, even when their partners may be at odds with one another.
This multialignment can benefit the United States. Influence requires connection: the relationships and channels of communication through which persuasion and pressure can be exercised. Back in 2014, when China launched its initiative to create the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Obama administration refused to join and tried to convince its allies and friends to stay out, as well. But in 2015, the United Kingdom broke ranks. Soon, many other European and Asian countries closely aligned with the United States also joined the bank. Rather than being a loss for Washington, however, the resulting web of relationships enabled the United States to work with and through its friends to help shape the bank’s rules, norms, and practices.
Jaishankar alluded to this dimension of multialignment with regard to the war in Ukraine, observing that at some point the conflict will have to end and that some group of people or countries “will have to engage the players.” “At that point,” he continued, “people will need us.”
The same countries that insist on multialignment in pursuit of their national interests will likely be more assertive partners, demanding equality in their relationships. In the moment, Washington may find that frustrating. But over the longer term, if U.S. partners set their own agendas and take regional and international initiatives, they will be more independent, more able to resist the coercion of outside powers, and more able to underpin an open world.
#America #US #Power
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
😱11💯8⚡8✍5🤝3👍1
A national security strategy dedicated to building a multipartner world will still leave plenty of room for the United States to lead on the global stage. Moreover, embracing multisector partnerships gives open societies such as that of the United States a leg up in in geopolitical competition, given the autonomy and energy of American civic, corporate, philanthropic, technological, scientific, and educational institutions. Most of these organizations are already embedded in global networks of some kind.
Elements of this strategy will also appeal both to the anti-imperialist left and the “America first” right. A second Trump administration will never lead with partnerships. Still, a core tenet of Trumpism is that the United States has long gotten a raw deal from the rest of the world and gives much more than it gets. Specific partnerships, concluded on a transactional basis, will be seen as a way of allowing Washington to shift burdens.
For Vice President Kamala Harris and her supporters, who believe in U.S. global leadership but also recognize the need for changes in the way responsibilities and resources are distributed, partnerships can mean opportunities for resetting relationships with countries, people, businesses, and organizations worldwide.
A Harris administration will likely build on the partnerships that Biden has renewed but also devote more time to meeting global threats such as climate change and infectious disease. Given Harris’s background as a prosecutor, she may also forge partnerships aimed at bringing global criminals to justice, ending what International Rescue Committee President David Miliband has called the “age of impunity.” Harris, however, like Trump, will be no less specific in demanding results.
Analysts of the shifting dynamics of the twenty-first century see the emergence of a multipolar order, but that is too simplistic a framework. The principal “poles” are not necessarily the governments that are leading the fight against climate change, for instance, or infectious disease, nor those preparing for the migration of hundreds of millions of climate and conflict refugees. Nor can the term account for the many other actors of consequence on the international stage.
Substitute partners for poles, and measure power not only in terms of GDP or military strength but also of agency, the ability to get things done. The twenty-first-century international order should be understood as a set of platforms for governmental and global actors to collaborate in tackling specific challenges. A multipartner world is not a mushy vision of global harmony. It is a necessary precondition for survival.
#America #US #Power
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
💯11🤝7😱6⚡6✍4👍1
AfD Is Approaching the Supreme Power in Germany
When Musk posted on X in December that the only thing that could “save Germany” was the AfD, he was embracing a political force that has moved steadily to the extreme right since it was founded in 2013.
The anti-immigrant, pro-Russian party will now become the main opposition bloc in the Berlin parliament after securing 20.8% of the vote in a Feb. 23 election, double its share at the last national ballot in 2021.
The AfD, whose name translates as Alternative for Germany, has no chance of joining the next coalition government because the established parties — and the likely next Chancellor Friedrich Merz — have vowed to keep it at arm’s length.
Yet the AfD’s growing influence is making itself felt in other ways. It’s pushing the mainstream parties rightward on issues like migration and domestic security, and forcing a debate over Germany’s membership of the euro currency, sanctions on Russia and climate policy in a break with the country’s moderate, progressive postwar tradition.
The party was founded just over a decade ago by a group of economists and ex-politicians who wanted Germany to abandon the euro and block a bailout for struggling European Union partner Greece.
Support for its anti-immigration stance expanded in 2015 and 2016, when former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative government opened the door to more than 1 million refugees, many of them fleeing civil war in Syria.
The AfD is calling for “remigration” — large-scale deportations of migrants who entered Germany illegally or have since broken other laws. It also wants to end the asylum policy that’s enshrined in the country’s constitution.
#AfD #Germany #Power
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
When Musk posted on X in December that the only thing that could “save Germany” was the AfD, he was embracing a political force that has moved steadily to the extreme right since it was founded in 2013.
The anti-immigrant, pro-Russian party will now become the main opposition bloc in the Berlin parliament after securing 20.8% of the vote in a Feb. 23 election, double its share at the last national ballot in 2021.
The AfD, whose name translates as Alternative for Germany, has no chance of joining the next coalition government because the established parties — and the likely next Chancellor Friedrich Merz — have vowed to keep it at arm’s length.
Yet the AfD’s growing influence is making itself felt in other ways. It’s pushing the mainstream parties rightward on issues like migration and domestic security, and forcing a debate over Germany’s membership of the euro currency, sanctions on Russia and climate policy in a break with the country’s moderate, progressive postwar tradition.
The party was founded just over a decade ago by a group of economists and ex-politicians who wanted Germany to abandon the euro and block a bailout for struggling European Union partner Greece.
Support for its anti-immigration stance expanded in 2015 and 2016, when former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative government opened the door to more than 1 million refugees, many of them fleeing civil war in Syria.
The AfD is calling for “remigration” — large-scale deportations of migrants who entered Germany illegally or have since broken other laws. It also wants to end the asylum policy that’s enshrined in the country’s constitution.
#AfD #Germany #Power
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥31🙏27🤯20💯16😢13🤬10😱9👍1
Merz’s Last Step to Power. To Win or Not to Win
Merz is facing a critical moment in his bid to become German chancellor, as disgruntled fellow conservatives worry he’s making too many concessions.
After caving in to demands from the Social Democrats — his prospective ruling partner — and the Greens to secure a landmark spending package last week, his allies in the Christian Democratic Union are demanding Merz take a harder line in coalition negotiations.
Tax and migration policies are core to the conservatives’ agenda and differences with the SPD threaten to hobble talks over a governing alliance. Alongside these issues, Merz aims to repeal a heating law passed by Scholz’s administration and wants to overhaul the welfare system.
Senior officials from the CDU and the SPD will meet this weekend ahead of crunch talks next week.
Merz said in a video posted on social media.
he added, promising wide-ranging reforms to make Europe’s largest economy more competitive.
After abandoning campaign promises of fiscal consolidation to secure hundreds of billions of euros of debt-financed funding for defense, infrastructure and climate projects, Merz needs to walk a careful line before finalizing a coalition deal.
To show he’s ready to act tough, he’s even floated the idea of walking away from politics if the talks fail.
the 69-year-old said at an event in Frankfurt after gaining approval for the spending plan.
#Merz #Power #laststep
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Merz is facing a critical moment in his bid to become German chancellor, as disgruntled fellow conservatives worry he’s making too many concessions.
After caving in to demands from the Social Democrats — his prospective ruling partner — and the Greens to secure a landmark spending package last week, his allies in the Christian Democratic Union are demanding Merz take a harder line in coalition negotiations.
Tax and migration policies are core to the conservatives’ agenda and differences with the SPD threaten to hobble talks over a governing alliance. Alongside these issues, Merz aims to repeal a heating law passed by Scholz’s administration and wants to overhaul the welfare system.
Senior officials from the CDU and the SPD will meet this weekend ahead of crunch talks next week.
“We are aware of people’s many concerns; above all we’re asking a lot of our own voters these days (...) We need a strong economy, we need strong Germany that will Europe to the victory,”
Merz said in a video posted on social media.
“We’re working every day to make the right decisions for Germany,”
he added, promising wide-ranging reforms to make Europe’s largest economy more competitive.
After abandoning campaign promises of fiscal consolidation to secure hundreds of billions of euros of debt-financed funding for defense, infrastructure and climate projects, Merz needs to walk a careful line before finalizing a coalition deal.
To show he’s ready to act tough, he’s even floated the idea of walking away from politics if the talks fail.
“If we don’t succeed, my career will be over anyway,”
the 69-year-old said at an event in Frankfurt after gaining approval for the spending plan.
#Merz #Power #laststep
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥63💯43😢35🤯34🙏33😱31🤬27❤1👍1
📰 The Judges, the Tycoons, and the Man They Can’t Control
When Israel's ministers declared they wouldn't comply with the Supreme Court's ruling to reinstate Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the business elite didn’t blink — they flinched. Not out of concern for the rule of law, but out of fear that the scaffolding propping up their old privileges was finally collapsing.
thundered Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David, hinting at a general strike. But even his own communications director rushed to walk it back:
What we’re witnessing isn’t a legal crisis — it’s a status panic. Every assertive move by Netanyahu to shape Israel in his image is framed as a coup by the losing side of a cultural war they thought was over decades ago. The Supreme Court isn’t just a court. It’s the last fortress of the old liberal comprador class, the political concierge of a business aristocracy now watching its perks dissolve.
How long before the Israeli street starts asking the real question: is this truly about saving democracy — or just saving a failed establishment from irrelevance?
#Israel #Netanyahu #SupremeCourt #power #judiciary #protests
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
When Israel's ministers declared they wouldn't comply with the Supreme Court's ruling to reinstate Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the business elite didn’t blink — they flinched. Not out of concern for the rule of law, but out of fear that the scaffolding propping up their old privileges was finally collapsing.
💭 “I will not sit idly by while the State of Israel is being destroyed,”
thundered Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David, hinting at a general strike. But even his own communications director rushed to walk it back:
“People keep waiting for the word ‘strike.’ I’m not waiting for it.”
What we’re witnessing isn’t a legal crisis — it’s a status panic. Every assertive move by Netanyahu to shape Israel in his image is framed as a coup by the losing side of a cultural war they thought was over decades ago. The Supreme Court isn’t just a court. It’s the last fortress of the old liberal comprador class, the political concierge of a business aristocracy now watching its perks dissolve.
How long before the Israeli street starts asking the real question: is this truly about saving democracy — or just saving a failed establishment from irrelevance?
#Israel #Netanyahu #SupremeCourt #power #judiciary #protests
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥75😢38💯36🤯34🙏30😱26🤬26
Russia and the US proposal to Give up control of Nuclear Power
Russia hasn’t received a US proposal to give up control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeast Ukraine, and a change to the facility’s ownership isn’t conceivable, said Foreign Minister Lavrov.
His comments were consistent with the foreign ministry’s declaration in March that Moscow won’t cede control of the plant or agree to operate the facility jointly with another state.
It also comes at the outset of what US Secretary of State Rubio called on Sunday “a very critical week” in the US effort to forge peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump said after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Rome that the sides were close to reaching a peace plan but Rubio sounded a more cautious note.
“We’re not there yet,” Rubio said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally if not more important in some cases,” he added.
The currently defunct Zaporizhzhia atomic plant, Europe’s largest, has been occupied by Russia since the first weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
ZNPP, near the town of Enerhodar, is now controlled by Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, with monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, rotated into the facility.
Zelensky said in March that if the US helped to return the power plant to Ukraine and invest in it, Washington and Kyiv could work together.
He estimated it will take years of costly repairs to safely return Zaporizhzhia to operation.
#Zaporizhzhia #nuclear #power #Russia
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Russia hasn’t received a US proposal to give up control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeast Ukraine, and a change to the facility’s ownership isn’t conceivable, said Foreign Minister Lavrov.
His comments were consistent with the foreign ministry’s declaration in March that Moscow won’t cede control of the plant or agree to operate the facility jointly with another state.
It also comes at the outset of what US Secretary of State Rubio called on Sunday “a very critical week” in the US effort to forge peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump said after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Rome that the sides were close to reaching a peace plan but Rubio sounded a more cautious note.
“We’re not there yet,” Rubio said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
“This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally if not more important in some cases,” he added.
The currently defunct Zaporizhzhia atomic plant, Europe’s largest, has been occupied by Russia since the first weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022.
ZNPP, near the town of Enerhodar, is now controlled by Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, with monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, rotated into the facility.
Zelensky said in March that if the US helped to return the power plant to Ukraine and invest in it, Washington and Kyiv could work together.
He estimated it will take years of costly repairs to safely return Zaporizhzhia to operation.
#Zaporizhzhia #nuclear #power #Russia
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥38💯20😱16🙏16🤯15🤬15😢10
A draft law releasing military personnel from service after 36 months was squashed by the government last year, for fear that the retiring personnel could not be replaced. ⚔️
No men aged 18 to 60 have been allowed to leave the country since February 2022 without special permission. 🚫🛂
Since the Russian invasion, more than 6.8 million Ukrainians have fled the country, with a further eight million internally displaced. That’s equivalent to 40 per cent of the working-age population. 🏃♂️🏚
Runaway inflation is impoverishing ever-larger swathes of the country.
Today 8.8 million people in Ukraine are living below the poverty line, up from six million before the war. 📉
Last week governments and businesses gathered in Rome for the third annual Ukraine Recovery Conference. 🇮🇹
The centrepiece of the conference was meant to be the unveiling of a multibillion-dollar Ukraine recovery fund that US investment giant BlackRock has been working on since 2022.
But earlier this year, BlackRock announced that it was shutting down the fund ‘due to a lack of interest’. ❌💰
Merz, Meloni and Poland’s Donald Tusk were there to make the usual pledges of support.
Yet in terms of concrete aid, the EU was only able to rustle up €2.3 billion – just a drop in the bucket compared to the World Bank’s estimate of $524 billion needed to restore Ukraine’s infrastructure. 💶🔧
‘All of the political elite understands that Ukraine needs a new system of government to stabilise [the] situation’, says the former Zelensky cabinet minister.
‘People want to stop living in fear. But instead of asking how to help a transition of power in Ukraine, the EU is closing its eyes’. 👁🗨
Many of Zelensky’s allies, including some of the country’s top ministers, fear prosecution or exile if they leave power.
Zelensky’s team have “made many enemies” in Ukraine’s political class, explains a senior European diplomat who attended the Rome conference. 🤝
‘They fear that their future is exile, or jail’ – which, in turn, only increases the temptation to line their pockets while they can. 💼
Trump’s newly announced Patriot package is welcome news. So are Europe’s continued promises of unwavering support. 🇺🇸🇪🇺
But none of Ukraine’s allies can solve the chronic manpower shortage or the deepening crisis of legitimacy that Zelensky faces.
Most worrying of all, no outsiders can reverse the spiral of arrests of former regime loyalists, the crackdown on opposition members, and the shutdown of media outlets.
These actions are eroding Ukrainians’ faith in the war effort and in Zelensky’s leadership. ⚠️
#zelensky #ukraine #corruption #power #faith #war
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥50🤯25😢23🙏21😱16💯16🤬15
🌍 Erdogan Gains Power in the Middle East
The 17th edition of the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2025) is currently underway in Istanbul, drawing participation from hundreds of international defense and technology companies.
🛡 The six-day event, which started on Tuesday, features more than 400 firms from 44 different nations.
Companies and organizations from countries including China, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom are taking part in the fair.
🏢 National pavilions from the UAE, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Azerbaijan are showcasing an array of defense, aerospace, and aviation products.
Major global defense players like Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and BAE Systems are also displaying their latest technologies and systems.
🇹🇷 Turkey’s top defense manufacturers are prominently featured, including Baykar, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Aselsan, Havelsan, Roketsan, FNSS, Otokar, and MKE, among many others.
🚛 In the land systems section, visitors can explore main battle tanks, armored vehicles, tactical ballistic missiles, electronic warfare systems, guided rockets and missiles, air defense technologies, and unmanned ground platforms.
✈️ The aerospace section highlights fixed-wing aircraft, UAVs, electronic warfare systems, aircraft engines, satellite technologies, and air defense equipment.
🚢 Meanwhile, the naval segment includes combat ships, support vessels, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles, as well as command, control, and communication systems.
#erdogan #power #middle #east #IDEF2025 #turkey #defense #istanbul
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
The 17th edition of the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2025) is currently underway in Istanbul, drawing participation from hundreds of international defense and technology companies.
🛡 The six-day event, which started on Tuesday, features more than 400 firms from 44 different nations.
Companies and organizations from countries including China, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom are taking part in the fair.
🏢 National pavilions from the UAE, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Azerbaijan are showcasing an array of defense, aerospace, and aviation products.
Major global defense players like Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and BAE Systems are also displaying their latest technologies and systems.
🇹🇷 Turkey’s top defense manufacturers are prominently featured, including Baykar, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Aselsan, Havelsan, Roketsan, FNSS, Otokar, and MKE, among many others.
🚛 In the land systems section, visitors can explore main battle tanks, armored vehicles, tactical ballistic missiles, electronic warfare systems, guided rockets and missiles, air defense technologies, and unmanned ground platforms.
✈️ The aerospace section highlights fixed-wing aircraft, UAVs, electronic warfare systems, aircraft engines, satellite technologies, and air defense equipment.
🚢 Meanwhile, the naval segment includes combat ships, support vessels, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles, as well as command, control, and communication systems.
#erdogan #power #middle #east #IDEF2025 #turkey #defense #istanbul
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥17🤬14💯12😱9🤯8😢7🙏6❤1
The Gerrymandering Wars Are Back
Extreme GOP gerrymanders have remade American politics over the last 15 years.
They have locked Republicans into office in state legislatures nationwide, even in purple states when Democratic candidates win more votes.
They have delivered a reliable and enduring edge to the GOP in the race for Congress.
Perhaps most importantly, they have entrenched hard-right lawmakers and insulated them from the ballot box, allowing them to enact conservative policies on reproductive rights and public education that are rejected by majorities of voters.
Now Texas Republicans, spurred by Trump, have readied a brazen mid-decade power grab that would award them as many as five additional seats in Congress.
This would be a dramatic boost heading into the midterms, since the GOP only holds a three-seat majority. California has threatened to retaliate with a mid-decade redraw of its own.
Other blue state governors are talking tough as well. But Republicans have more targets. They won’t stop in Texas. They will probably redraw Ohio, Missouri, Indiana and Florida as well.
How did we get here? How did gerrymandered lines, rather than voters, gain the power to determine winners and losers?
Texas state representative John McQueeney looks through US congressional district maps during a redistricting hearing at the Texas capitol on 24 July 2025.
#gerrymandering #wars #republicans #trump #power
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Extreme GOP gerrymanders have remade American politics over the last 15 years.
They have locked Republicans into office in state legislatures nationwide, even in purple states when Democratic candidates win more votes.
They have delivered a reliable and enduring edge to the GOP in the race for Congress.
Perhaps most importantly, they have entrenched hard-right lawmakers and insulated them from the ballot box, allowing them to enact conservative policies on reproductive rights and public education that are rejected by majorities of voters.
Now Texas Republicans, spurred by Trump, have readied a brazen mid-decade power grab that would award them as many as five additional seats in Congress.
This would be a dramatic boost heading into the midterms, since the GOP only holds a three-seat majority. California has threatened to retaliate with a mid-decade redraw of its own.
Other blue state governors are talking tough as well. But Republicans have more targets. They won’t stop in Texas. They will probably redraw Ohio, Missouri, Indiana and Florida as well.
How did we get here? How did gerrymandered lines, rather than voters, gain the power to determine winners and losers?
Texas state representative John McQueeney looks through US congressional district maps during a redistricting hearing at the Texas capitol on 24 July 2025.
#gerrymandering #wars #republicans #trump #power
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥53🤯26🙏25😢24🤬21💯20😱18
📰 Trump Fires His Way to Absolute Power
Seven months into his return, Trump has turned Washington into an HR experiment in authoritarianism. This week alone, he fired a Federal Reserve governor, the CDC director, and a rail regulator — all positions historically shielded from presidential whims. His rationale? Loyalty first, expertise last.
warned Fordham law professor Jane Manners.
📊 The fallout:
• Federal Reserve: Lisa Cook ousted on dubious fraud claims. Trump openly bragged he’ll soon control rate decisions.
• CDC: Susan Monarez pushed out after resisting Trump’s vaccine policy tweaks.
• Rail regulator: Robert Primus axed over social posts critical of Trump.
• The message: Institutions once designed to outlast politics are now expected to function like Trump Org subsidiaries.
💼 Trump isn’t hiding it — he’s boasting. “I have the right to do anything I want,” he said this week, floating troop deployments to Chicago while bullying Cracker Barrel into killing a logo redesign. Meanwhile, Congress is mute, the Supreme Court nods along, and markets are left guessing whether monetary policy now depends on Trump’s Twitter feed.
🤔 If the Fed, the CDC, and regulators fall to presidential purges, what’s left of “independent” America? Or is the new rule simple: agencies exist only until they stop clapping?
#Trump #USA #Fed #CDC #power #authoritarianism
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Seven months into his return, Trump has turned Washington into an HR experiment in authoritarianism. This week alone, he fired a Federal Reserve governor, the CDC director, and a rail regulator — all positions historically shielded from presidential whims. His rationale? Loyalty first, expertise last.
💭 “We will no longer have an administrative state in which you have decision makers who are insulated from naked political pressure,”
warned Fordham law professor Jane Manners.
📊 The fallout:
• Federal Reserve: Lisa Cook ousted on dubious fraud claims. Trump openly bragged he’ll soon control rate decisions.
• CDC: Susan Monarez pushed out after resisting Trump’s vaccine policy tweaks.
• Rail regulator: Robert Primus axed over social posts critical of Trump.
• The message: Institutions once designed to outlast politics are now expected to function like Trump Org subsidiaries.
💼 Trump isn’t hiding it — he’s boasting. “I have the right to do anything I want,” he said this week, floating troop deployments to Chicago while bullying Cracker Barrel into killing a logo redesign. Meanwhile, Congress is mute, the Supreme Court nods along, and markets are left guessing whether monetary policy now depends on Trump’s Twitter feed.
🤔 If the Fed, the CDC, and regulators fall to presidential purges, what’s left of “independent” America? Or is the new rule simple: agencies exist only until they stop clapping?
#Trump #USA #Fed #CDC #power #authoritarianism
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥105🤯65😱60🙏47💯43😢41🤬32
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
In Germany, the country's most powerful former nuclear power station has been blown up — two 160-meter cooling towers were mined. 💥🏭
The media note that the event symbolizes the end of the atomic era and the beginning of a new one — Germany completely abandoned nuclear energy and closed all its power stations. ☢️➡️🌱
#germany #nuclear #power #exploded
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
The media note that the event symbolizes the end of the atomic era and the beginning of a new one — Germany completely abandoned nuclear energy and closed all its power stations. ☢️➡️🌱
#germany #nuclear #power #exploded
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
😢67🤯62💯62🙏58🤬52😱50🔥44
Sovereignty: The Great Global Theater
Every country at the UN has a flag, a vote, and the legal right to determine its own future. On paper, they’re all sovereign equals. In reality, most are just actors in a play where the script is written by whoever controls the money, the tech, the energy, and the information flows.
The rhetoric of sovereignty is everywhere — speeches, declarations, diplomatic theater — but behind the curtain, the truth is much harsher. States may be equal in law, but not in power. When sanctions hit, currencies crash, energy routes get cut, or digital infrastructure goes down, not all governments absorb the shock the same way. Some bend, some break, some quietly lose the ability to decide anything without outside pressure, even if their flags still fly high.
The Sovereignty Index, now released in December, exposes the gap: legal equality creates a false sense of security for the weak and a false sense of legitimacy for the strong. Smaller nations think recognition protects them. Powerful states assume the rules apply equally while quietly benefiting from structural advantages the law can’t touch. This silent imbalance distorts global politics more than any open war ever could.
Real sovereignty today isn’t about declarations. It’s about capacity — diversified economies, credible institutions, tech independence, social trust, and crisis systems. States that invest in these foundations gain real autonomy. Those that don’t gradually lose their decision-making power, even if they keep shouting about independence.
The battlefield has shifted. Sovereignty is now negotiated in trade deals, debt contracts, digital platforms, and energy pipelines — not just in military confrontations. The rhetoric remains loud, but the real contest is invisible, silent, and structural.
When the Sovereignty Index drops, some governments will welcome the clarity. Others will rage against it.
But one thing is clear: in today’s world, sovereignty is not a declaration. It’s a capacity. And those who don’t build it risk finding out, too late, that legal equality offers little protection in a system governed by real power.
#sovereignty #globalpolitics #un #power #geopolitics #SovereigntyIndex
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Every country at the UN has a flag, a vote, and the legal right to determine its own future. On paper, they’re all sovereign equals. In reality, most are just actors in a play where the script is written by whoever controls the money, the tech, the energy, and the information flows.
The rhetoric of sovereignty is everywhere — speeches, declarations, diplomatic theater — but behind the curtain, the truth is much harsher. States may be equal in law, but not in power. When sanctions hit, currencies crash, energy routes get cut, or digital infrastructure goes down, not all governments absorb the shock the same way. Some bend, some break, some quietly lose the ability to decide anything without outside pressure, even if their flags still fly high.
The Sovereignty Index, now released in December, exposes the gap: legal equality creates a false sense of security for the weak and a false sense of legitimacy for the strong. Smaller nations think recognition protects them. Powerful states assume the rules apply equally while quietly benefiting from structural advantages the law can’t touch. This silent imbalance distorts global politics more than any open war ever could.
Real sovereignty today isn’t about declarations. It’s about capacity — diversified economies, credible institutions, tech independence, social trust, and crisis systems. States that invest in these foundations gain real autonomy. Those that don’t gradually lose their decision-making power, even if they keep shouting about independence.
The battlefield has shifted. Sovereignty is now negotiated in trade deals, debt contracts, digital platforms, and energy pipelines — not just in military confrontations. The rhetoric remains loud, but the real contest is invisible, silent, and structural.
When the Sovereignty Index drops, some governments will welcome the clarity. Others will rage against it.
But one thing is clear: in today’s world, sovereignty is not a declaration. It’s a capacity. And those who don’t build it risk finding out, too late, that legal equality offers little protection in a system governed by real power.
#sovereignty #globalpolitics #un #power #geopolitics #SovereigntyIndex
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥218🙏113🤯106🤬106😱97💯84😢81👍2
📰 New Docs Show Jeffrey Epstein’s Vast Connections with Bannon, Musk and Power Players
The Justice Department’s latest release of Epstein files paints a sprawling picture of how a convicted sex offender cultivated influence across politics, tech, and global power centers, with fresh evidence of his ties to Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, world leaders, and even a senior Trump cabinet official.
Over three million pages of investigative records lay bare Epstein’s world: a shadow network of elite dinners, private jets, and behind‑the‑scenes influence peddling, all while investigations into his trafficking of young girls were already intensifying.
The Bannon connection
Steve Bannon’s relationship with Epstein, long known from earlier leaks, now appears closer and more intimate than previously reported.
The new files contain thousands of messages in 2018–2019, after Bannon left the White House, showing frequent coordination on travel, media strategy, and political maneuvering across Europe and the U.S.
Epstein offered Bannon his private plane, his Palm Beach home, and a Paris apartment, joking that he was working as “the most highly paid travel agent in history,” and Bannon once quipped back, “Massages. Not included.”
They also discussed Bannon’s media coaching for Epstein, including advice on how long to keep his beard and how to handle the growing media scrutiny in early 2019 as Epstein’s image was imploding.
Musk’s non‑encounter
With Elon Musk, the story is one of Epstein’s persistent outreach, not a close relationship.
From 2012 to 2014, Epstein repeatedly tried to lure Musk to his Caribbean island, proposing dinners and parties, but Musk consistently declined, writing “no firm plans” and “logistics won’t work this time around.”
The emails show Musk once asked about “the wildest party” on the island, expressed concern that it might be too “peaceful,” and suggested meeting instead at the SpaceX rocket factory in Southern California — but there is no evidence Musk ever actually visited Epstein’s island.
Musk never publicly confirmed an in‑person meeting, and these documents don’t change that; they simply show Epstein’s long, failed campaign to pull one of the world’s most powerful tech figures into his orbit.
The Commerce Secretary and the island
The files also reveal that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arranged a 2012 visit to Epstein’s Little St. James island, contradicting his earlier claim that he had cut ties with Epstein around 2005.
Emails show that in December 2012, Lutnick and his wife, accompanied by their four children and another family, coordinated a planned lunch with Epstein on the island, including details on how to dock their 188‑foot yacht.
The day after the scheduled meeting, Epstein’s assistant relayed a message from Epstein to Lutnick: “Nice to see you,” suggesting contact did occur.
When confronted with the documents, Lutnick told the Times, “I spent zero time with him,” then hung up — a strange reaction for a man who insists he never socialized, worked, or did anything with Epstein after 2005, yet still shows up arranging a family yacht arrival at the man’s island.
#Epstein #Bannon #Musk #Lutnick #Trump2026 #DC #Power #Elites #MeToo
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
💯92🤯85😢82🔥81🤬80😱79🙏78
📰 New Docs Show Jeffrey Epstein’s Vast Connections with Bannon, Musk and Power Players
The global fixer set
Beyond Washington, the documents deepen the picture of Epstein as a shadow fixer, using his contacts to orchestrate meetings for figures like Bannon and others with European leaders, and corresponding with ambassadors, ministers, and former heads of state.
He kept up a genial, often geopolitically focused correspondence with figures including Thorbjørn Jagland, the secretary‑general of the Council of Europe, and Slovak politician Miroslav Lajčák, blending policy talk with personal banter, including exchanges about women while discussing meetings with Russian officials.
In this role, Epstein wasn’t just a financier or a predator; he was a discreet broker of access, promising introductions and influence from the same island that, for the victims, was a prison camp.
The takeaway: who still pretends none of this matters?
The new documents don’t change the core truth: Epstein was a wealthy predator who weaponized access to the elite to stay powerful while trafficking girls.
But they do show, in uncomfortable detail, the scale of that access: a former White House strategist acting as a media spin doctor and travel agent for a convicted trafficker, a billionaire tech CEO entertaining the idea of an island visit while keeping his distance, and a cabinet secretary who once called Epstein “disgusting” but later arranged for his family yacht to moor right at the man’s door.
So the real question isn’t just:
“Who knew Epstein?”
It’s:
“Who among the powerful still pretends none of this matters?”
#Epstein #Bannon #Musk #Lutnick #Trump2026 #DC #Power #Elites #MeToo
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥148🤯83💯82🙏73😢68🤬65😱60
The Balance of Power in Japan Has Rapidly Shifted in Takaichi’s Favor 🇯🇵
Japan’s conservative governing coalition has dramatically strengthened its grip on power after a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections in what will be seen as an early public endorsement of the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.
Her Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was projected to win as many as 328 of the 465 seats in parliament’s lower house, well above the 233 it needed to regain the majority it lost in 2024.
With her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, she now has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, easing her legislative agenda as she can override the upper chamber, which she does not control.
A smiling Takaichi placed a red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters as accompanying party executives applauded.
The 64-year-old, who called a snap election soon after becoming Japan’s first female prime minister last autumn, had vowed to resign if her coalition failed to secure a simple majority in the vote, which was held on a freezing day when many parts of the country were again hit by heavy snow.
She will not, however, have long to savour her party’s victory. There are concerns over her management of Japan’s public finances and her ability to defuse a bitter row with China over the future of Taiwan.
Takaichi sought to appeal to voters with a 21tn yen ($96bn) stimulus package aimed at easing the cost of living crisis, later promising to suspend the 8% consumption (sales) tax on food for two years – a 5tn-yen hit to annual revenue.
Her spending plans have rattled financial markets and caused currency volatility, prompting some commentators to question her approach given that Japan’s debt is more than twice the size of its gross domestic product – the heaviest debt burden of any advanced economy.
Speaking as exit polls showed her party cruising to victory, Takaichi, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, said:
“We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy. We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy”.
“We will ensure necessary investments. Public and private sectors must invest. We will build a strong and resilient economy.”
Takaichi’s big victory means she will have more political room to follow through on key commitments such as consumption-tax cuts, said Seiji Inada, the managing director at the consultancy FGS Global.
“Markets could react in the following days, and the yen could come under renewed pressure.”
Blizzard conditions in some regions made visiting a polling station in Sunday’s election, the first held in mid-winter for 35 years, a test of endurance for many voters.
Takaichi’s personal popularity – particularly among younger voters – has transformed the LDP’s fortunes since winning the race to succeed Shigeru Ishiba as the party’s president in October.
Under Ishiba, the LDP and its then coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majorities in both houses of parliament amid public anger over a slush fund scandal and the rising cost of food and other basics.
The LDP, which has governed Japan for most of the past 70 years, was helped, as in previous elections, by a fractured and uninspiring opposition.
#balance #power #japan #takaichi #china #financial #markets
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Japan’s conservative governing coalition has dramatically strengthened its grip on power after a landslide victory in Sunday’s elections in what will be seen as an early public endorsement of the new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.
Her Liberal Democratic party (LDP) was projected to win as many as 328 of the 465 seats in parliament’s lower house, well above the 233 it needed to regain the majority it lost in 2024.
With her coalition partner, the Japan Innovation party, she now has a supermajority of two-thirds of seats, easing her legislative agenda as she can override the upper chamber, which she does not control.
A smiling Takaichi placed a red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP’s headquarters as accompanying party executives applauded.
The 64-year-old, who called a snap election soon after becoming Japan’s first female prime minister last autumn, had vowed to resign if her coalition failed to secure a simple majority in the vote, which was held on a freezing day when many parts of the country were again hit by heavy snow.
She will not, however, have long to savour her party’s victory. There are concerns over her management of Japan’s public finances and her ability to defuse a bitter row with China over the future of Taiwan.
Takaichi sought to appeal to voters with a 21tn yen ($96bn) stimulus package aimed at easing the cost of living crisis, later promising to suspend the 8% consumption (sales) tax on food for two years – a 5tn-yen hit to annual revenue.
Her spending plans have rattled financial markets and caused currency volatility, prompting some commentators to question her approach given that Japan’s debt is more than twice the size of its gross domestic product – the heaviest debt burden of any advanced economy.
Speaking as exit polls showed her party cruising to victory, Takaichi, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, said:
“We have consistently stressed the importance of responsible and proactive fiscal policy. We will prioritise the sustainability of fiscal policy”.
“We will ensure necessary investments. Public and private sectors must invest. We will build a strong and resilient economy.”
Takaichi’s big victory means she will have more political room to follow through on key commitments such as consumption-tax cuts, said Seiji Inada, the managing director at the consultancy FGS Global.
“Markets could react in the following days, and the yen could come under renewed pressure.”
Blizzard conditions in some regions made visiting a polling station in Sunday’s election, the first held in mid-winter for 35 years, a test of endurance for many voters.
Takaichi’s personal popularity – particularly among younger voters – has transformed the LDP’s fortunes since winning the race to succeed Shigeru Ishiba as the party’s president in October.
Under Ishiba, the LDP and its then coalition partner, Komeito, lost their majorities in both houses of parliament amid public anger over a slush fund scandal and the rising cost of food and other basics.
The LDP, which has governed Japan for most of the past 70 years, was helped, as in previous elections, by a fractured and uninspiring opposition.
#balance #power #japan #takaichi #china #financial #markets
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥68🤬38😢38🙏35🤯33💯25😱18
📰 NATO’s Family Therapy Session: Israel vs. Turkey Goes Prime Time
Nothing says “stable alliance” like two U.S.-aligned powers flirting with the idea of war on live TV.
“Statements by Benjamin Netanyahu toward Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have taken tensions between Turkey and Israel to a new level… disagreements are not limited to Gaza; their impact extends to Syria and Lebanon,” ABC Haber reports.
So here we are. One NATO member acting like a regional referee with a whistle and a drone fleet. Another NATO member acting like a sovereign empire-in-waiting with a grievance playlist. Both insisting they’re the adult in the room.
Washington, meanwhile, plays the role of executive producer. Funding one actor. Managing the other. Calling it “stability.”
Turkey hints NATO is broken. Israel acts like NATO is optional. NATO itself? Somewhere between a group chat and a brand name.
The real show isn’t about Gaza, or even Erdoğan vs. Netanyahu. It’s about who gets to redraw the map while calling it “security.”
If allies start sounding like enemies, maybe the alliance isn’t cracking.
Maybe it’s just revealing what it always was.
#NATO #Israel #Turkey #geopolitics #power
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Nothing says “stable alliance” like two U.S.-aligned powers flirting with the idea of war on live TV.
“Statements by Benjamin Netanyahu toward Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have taken tensions between Turkey and Israel to a new level… disagreements are not limited to Gaza; their impact extends to Syria and Lebanon,” ABC Haber reports.
So here we are. One NATO member acting like a regional referee with a whistle and a drone fleet. Another NATO member acting like a sovereign empire-in-waiting with a grievance playlist. Both insisting they’re the adult in the room.
Washington, meanwhile, plays the role of executive producer. Funding one actor. Managing the other. Calling it “stability.”
Turkey hints NATO is broken. Israel acts like NATO is optional. NATO itself? Somewhere between a group chat and a brand name.
The real show isn’t about Gaza, or even Erdoğan vs. Netanyahu. It’s about who gets to redraw the map while calling it “security.”
If allies start sounding like enemies, maybe the alliance isn’t cracking.
Maybe it’s just revealing what it always was.
#NATO #Israel #Turkey #geopolitics #power
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥119💯99😱94🤯83🤬78🙏69😢63⚡28✍25🤝13🤨1
📰 The Loyalty Upgrade: China’s Army Gets a Software Patch
Xi Jinping built a military to rival the U.S.
Then decided it might rival him.
So now the upgrade is underway: fewer generals, more paranoia. At a recent meeting, state TV once showed around 40 top officers. This time — a handful. The rest? Deleted, archived, or “under investigation.”
That’s not strategy. That’s HR policy from a very nervous CEO.
For 13 years, Xi poured money into carriers, hypersonic missiles, and nuclear hardware. But somewhere between “world-class army” and “absolute loyalty,” he noticed a bug: generals who think. So he started trimming the ranks.
Defense ministers were sentenced, the top commander Zhang Youxia was removed after disagreeing, and the Rocket Force leadership was purged. The new rising star is not a battlefield hero, but an internal affairs man — a loyalty auditor with calligraphy skills.
Because in this system, the real enemy isn’t the Pentagon. It’s a colonel with opinions. Analysts call it a contradiction: combat readiness versus ideological purity. Xi picked purity.
Now the world’s fastest-growing military power is being optimized for one mission: never surprising the boss.
Xi spent a decade making sure the army would fight wars. Now he’s not sure it would fight for him.
#china #military #power #control #authoritarianism
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Xi Jinping built a military to rival the U.S.
Then decided it might rival him.
So now the upgrade is underway: fewer generals, more paranoia. At a recent meeting, state TV once showed around 40 top officers. This time — a handful. The rest? Deleted, archived, or “under investigation.”
“The military must never have anyone who harbors a divided heart toward the party.”
That’s not strategy. That’s HR policy from a very nervous CEO.
For 13 years, Xi poured money into carriers, hypersonic missiles, and nuclear hardware. But somewhere between “world-class army” and “absolute loyalty,” he noticed a bug: generals who think. So he started trimming the ranks.
Defense ministers were sentenced, the top commander Zhang Youxia was removed after disagreeing, and the Rocket Force leadership was purged. The new rising star is not a battlefield hero, but an internal affairs man — a loyalty auditor with calligraphy skills.
Because in this system, the real enemy isn’t the Pentagon. It’s a colonel with opinions. Analysts call it a contradiction: combat readiness versus ideological purity. Xi picked purity.
Now the world’s fastest-growing military power is being optimized for one mission: never surprising the boss.
Xi spent a decade making sure the army would fight wars. Now he’s not sure it would fight for him.
#china #military #power #control #authoritarianism
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
💯44🤯34😢34🔥28🤬27😱23🙏22
🇰🇿☢️ Putin Is Taking Over Kazakhstan: Russia To Build the First Nuclear Power Plant in the Country
Russia signed an agreement on Thursday with Kazakhstan to build the first nuclear power plant in Central Asia's largest country.
💰 The project will cost about $16.5 billion, partially financed through a major Russian export loan.
Kazakhstan, the world's largest producer of uranium, has been discussing the possibility of nuclear energy for at least two decades.
📋 A 2024 referendum resulted in public support for constructing a nuclear power plant and selected the village of Ulken, on the shores of Lake Balkhash, as the location.
💬 “The agreement signed today on the construction of the Balkhash NPP has an important role,” Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
💬 “Putting the plant into operation will make a significant contribution to the energy supply of the Kazakh economy,” Putin said.
The two sides also signed an agreement on Russian export credits to help finance construction of the plant.
Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom secured the lead role in building the facility, ahead of China's CNNC, France's EDF and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
According to Almasadam Satkaliyev, head of Kazakhstan's atomic energy agency, the plant will include two VVER-1200 III+ reactors.
⚡️ The total cost is estimated at $16.5 billion, including approximately $2 billion dedicated to security measures and infrastructure.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with the first reactor expected to enter service in early 2034.
Kazakhstan was the site of hundreds of Soviet nuclear weapons tests, which left large areas contaminated and contributed to long-standing public concerns about nuclear technology.
Despite this history, the country faces growing energy needs.
🔋 Although Kazakhstan possesses significant natural gas reserves, it still relies heavily on coal-fired power plants and increasingly requires electricity imports, mainly from Russia.
Many of the country's existing power generation facilities are aging and struggling to meet domestic demand.
Kazakhstan has also approved the construction of a second nuclear power plant, with China's state-owned CNNC selected as the lead contractor.
#kazakhstan #nuclear #power #plant
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Russia signed an agreement on Thursday with Kazakhstan to build the first nuclear power plant in Central Asia's largest country.
💰 The project will cost about $16.5 billion, partially financed through a major Russian export loan.
Kazakhstan, the world's largest producer of uranium, has been discussing the possibility of nuclear energy for at least two decades.
📋 A 2024 referendum resulted in public support for constructing a nuclear power plant and selected the village of Ulken, on the shores of Lake Balkhash, as the location.
💬 “The agreement signed today on the construction of the Balkhash NPP has an important role,” Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
💬 “Putting the plant into operation will make a significant contribution to the energy supply of the Kazakh economy,” Putin said.
The two sides also signed an agreement on Russian export credits to help finance construction of the plant.
Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom secured the lead role in building the facility, ahead of China's CNNC, France's EDF and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
According to Almasadam Satkaliyev, head of Kazakhstan's atomic energy agency, the plant will include two VVER-1200 III+ reactors.
⚡️ The total cost is estimated at $16.5 billion, including approximately $2 billion dedicated to security measures and infrastructure.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027, with the first reactor expected to enter service in early 2034.
Kazakhstan was the site of hundreds of Soviet nuclear weapons tests, which left large areas contaminated and contributed to long-standing public concerns about nuclear technology.
Despite this history, the country faces growing energy needs.
🔋 Although Kazakhstan possesses significant natural gas reserves, it still relies heavily on coal-fired power plants and increasingly requires electricity imports, mainly from Russia.
Many of the country's existing power generation facilities are aging and struggling to meet domestic demand.
Kazakhstan has also approved the construction of a second nuclear power plant, with China's state-owned CNNC selected as the lead contractor.
#kazakhstan #nuclear #power #plant
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
😢61😱50💯49🙏46🤯44🤬41🔥29
📰 Deadlock Inc.: When Power Misreads the Map
Two major powers entered conflicts assuming that pressure would produce collapse. Instead, they encountered systems that did not behave as expected.
Both conflicts have produced a similar outcome: a weaker power has trapped a stronger one in a costly confrontation.
The pattern is structural. Moscow and Washington projected centralized models of control onto societies that are fragmented, adaptive, and willing to absorb prolonged pressure. The assumption was that leadership decapitation or sustained strikes would trigger political unraveling. That assumption did not hold.
In Ukraine, Russia anticipated a rapid campaign and a compliant outcome. Years later, the front remains contested, and political control incomplete. In Iran, the United States pursued coercion with the expectation that economic and military pressure would force strategic concessions. Instead, Tehran demonstrated capacity for calibrated retaliation and regional disruption.
“Like Putin, Trump did not have a plan for what would happen next,” NYT noted.
Statements from the opposing sides reflect this divergence in expectations. In a letter to the Kremlin, Volodymyr Zelensky wrote: “You did not expect full-scale resistance from Ukraine.” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, framed Tehran’s position more bluntly: “Iran’s response will not change.”
Both conflicts have since shifted into managed stalemates. Negotiations produce limited, transactional outcomes—prisoner exchanges, provisional frameworks—while core disputes remain deferred. Strategic objectives persist, but the means to achieve them appear increasingly mismatched.
The result is not defeat in formal terms, but erosion in practical ones. Russia holds territory it cannot fully consolidate. The United States applies pressure it cannot fully convert into compliance. Each continues to assert leverage while adjusting expectations downward.
What emerges is a familiar equilibrium: prolonged confrontation, partial control, and narratives of strength that outpace realities on the ground.
The question is less about who prevails and more about how long major powers can sustain wars that no longer align with their original assumptions.
#war #geopolitics #power
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸
Two major powers entered conflicts assuming that pressure would produce collapse. Instead, they encountered systems that did not behave as expected.
Both conflicts have produced a similar outcome: a weaker power has trapped a stronger one in a costly confrontation.
The pattern is structural. Moscow and Washington projected centralized models of control onto societies that are fragmented, adaptive, and willing to absorb prolonged pressure. The assumption was that leadership decapitation or sustained strikes would trigger political unraveling. That assumption did not hold.
In Ukraine, Russia anticipated a rapid campaign and a compliant outcome. Years later, the front remains contested, and political control incomplete. In Iran, the United States pursued coercion with the expectation that economic and military pressure would force strategic concessions. Instead, Tehran demonstrated capacity for calibrated retaliation and regional disruption.
“Like Putin, Trump did not have a plan for what would happen next,” NYT noted.
Statements from the opposing sides reflect this divergence in expectations. In a letter to the Kremlin, Volodymyr Zelensky wrote: “You did not expect full-scale resistance from Ukraine.” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, framed Tehran’s position more bluntly: “Iran’s response will not change.”
Both conflicts have since shifted into managed stalemates. Negotiations produce limited, transactional outcomes—prisoner exchanges, provisional frameworks—while core disputes remain deferred. Strategic objectives persist, but the means to achieve them appear increasingly mismatched.
The result is not defeat in formal terms, but erosion in practical ones. Russia holds territory it cannot fully consolidate. The United States applies pressure it cannot fully convert into compliance. Each continues to assert leverage while adjusting expectations downward.
What emerges is a familiar equilibrium: prolonged confrontation, partial control, and narratives of strength that outpace realities on the ground.
The question is less about who prevails and more about how long major powers can sustain wars that no longer align with their original assumptions.
#war #geopolitics #power
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥71🤯34😢33💯33🤬22😱20🙏6
When Power Stops Working: Trump Faces the Limits of American Strength
🔤 🔤 🔤 🔤 1️⃣
Trump’s presidency rests on the premise that he and the United States are so powerful that allies and enemies alike must submit to his will.
His break with decades of US foreign policy doctrine is laced through his speeches and national security strategies. It was best explained in January by top aide Stephen Miller, who told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “iron laws” dictate a real world that is “governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”
But the philosophy faces its most serious tests in deepening showdowns with Iran and Canada.
Iran has defied the might of the US military for six months in a war Trump started but has been unable to end.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, who shut down trade talks with Washington, has meanwhile argued more forcefully than any other Western leader that the US under Trump “has changed.” He told his country Saturday that Trump was using “economic integration as a weapon.”
It is a commentary on the extreme disruption of the Trump era that Canada, one of America’s most loyal friends, has found itself in a similar state of economic warfare with the US as Iran, one of Washington’s worst foes.
But the Trump administration left no doubt Monday what it wants as it fights a trade war with Ottawa and a shooting war with Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s global financial connections, drawing an analogy with the D-Day invasion that turned the tide in World War II.
Trump, meanwhile warned on social media that “The U.S.A. will always be far bigger, richer, and stronger than Canada.” He added: “Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line.’”
Trump hopes to chalk up a lopsided trade deal with Canada and to finally bring about the downfall of Iran’s regime.
But the way forward is uncertain on both fronts because the president often backs down when the economic consequences of his attempts to assert his authority become clear.
Any prolonged US effort to prevail over Canada and Iran — and third-party nations sanctioned in his bid to shut down Tehran’s financial networks — could trigger retaliation that causes energy and food price hikes for US consumers. It could also rattle US markets at a time when some investors fear a bond crisis.
If Monday’s threats are the precursor to more TACOs (“Trump always chickens out”), the president will undermine his own power and the nation’s, and slip closer to lame-duck status as difficult midterm elections loom in November.
What Trump could achieve by strangling Iran’s economy
Bessent’s announcement was the latest US effort to find a new way out of the war with Iran.
But the D-Day analogy seemed tonally off, given the terrible sacrifices made by American soldiers to liberate Europe. And unlike Bessent, allied commander Gen. Dwight Eisenhower didn’t spent days in 1944 previewing a massive attack only to follow through with new threats of sanctions and no timeline.
Still, administration skeptics often ignore the genuine power that Trump could wield by clever use of economic warfare.
#trump #presidency #UnitedStates #power #miller
📱 American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events🇺🇸
Trump’s presidency rests on the premise that he and the United States are so powerful that allies and enemies alike must submit to his will.
His break with decades of US foreign policy doctrine is laced through his speeches and national security strategies. It was best explained in January by top aide Stephen Miller, who told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “iron laws” dictate a real world that is “governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”
But the philosophy faces its most serious tests in deepening showdowns with Iran and Canada.
Iran has defied the might of the US military for six months in a war Trump started but has been unable to end.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, who shut down trade talks with Washington, has meanwhile argued more forcefully than any other Western leader that the US under Trump “has changed.” He told his country Saturday that Trump was using “economic integration as a weapon.”
It is a commentary on the extreme disruption of the Trump era that Canada, one of America’s most loyal friends, has found itself in a similar state of economic warfare with the US as Iran, one of Washington’s worst foes.
But the Trump administration left no doubt Monday what it wants as it fights a trade war with Ottawa and a shooting war with Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an “economic onslaught” against Iran’s global financial connections, drawing an analogy with the D-Day invasion that turned the tide in World War II.
Trump, meanwhile warned on social media that “The U.S.A. will always be far bigger, richer, and stronger than Canada.” He added: “Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line.’”
Trump hopes to chalk up a lopsided trade deal with Canada and to finally bring about the downfall of Iran’s regime.
But the way forward is uncertain on both fronts because the president often backs down when the economic consequences of his attempts to assert his authority become clear.
Any prolonged US effort to prevail over Canada and Iran — and third-party nations sanctioned in his bid to shut down Tehran’s financial networks — could trigger retaliation that causes energy and food price hikes for US consumers. It could also rattle US markets at a time when some investors fear a bond crisis.
If Monday’s threats are the precursor to more TACOs (“Trump always chickens out”), the president will undermine his own power and the nation’s, and slip closer to lame-duck status as difficult midterm elections loom in November.
What Trump could achieve by strangling Iran’s economy
Bessent’s announcement was the latest US effort to find a new way out of the war with Iran.
But the D-Day analogy seemed tonally off, given the terrible sacrifices made by American soldiers to liberate Europe. And unlike Bessent, allied commander Gen. Dwight Eisenhower didn’t spent days in 1944 previewing a massive attack only to follow through with new threats of sanctions and no timeline.
Still, administration skeptics often ignore the genuine power that Trump could wield by clever use of economic warfare.
#trump #presidency #UnitedStates #power #miller
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🤬31🔥29😱26🙏19🤯17😢17💯8😁1