Mallen Baker: Faultlines

In this news round-up of the week for Friday January 9th, 2025. The US takes another step towards normalising political violence with the shooting of a woman by ICE in Minneapolis. President Trump declares that it might well be that he has to choose between taking Greenland and keeping NATO intact. Elon Musk’s Twitter is on the verge of being banned from the United Kingdom, and maybe the European Union. And the White House launches a new website with its own version of recent history - that is as bad as you might expect.

Since the operation against Nicolas Maduro, the Trump Administration has been in bullish mood about its ability to use military power to get anything it wants around the world. And one of the most commonly mentioned targets in the last few days has been Greenland. They assume that the US has such overwhelming force, nobody would try to stop an armed invasion. But Denmark is a member of NATO, and the pledge is that an attack on one is an attack on all. So will European NATO members actually fight for Greenland should it come to it? Let's discuss.<...

Two things we've learned in the last couple of days. One - the Trump administration officially could not care less about international law, at least - if it should ever prove to be a constraint on them doing exactly what they want to do. And two - for all that MAGA social media posts have been bigging up the initial celebration of Venezuelans at Maduro's downfall, Trump actually is just fine with an authoritarian regime staying in place, just with someone different at the head of it. So all those people who initially celebrated are now feeling crushing disappointment...

So the plan to oust Nicolas Madura resulted in an attack, during which the dictator and his wife were seized and transported to the United States. This is an undoubted breach of international law, but Trump and MAGA don't care about that. It also broke the rules of the United States, but nobody seems inclined to enforce those. Nevertheless, this isn't just another mad President Trump moment - this has pushed Trump, the bully who used tariffs to put extreme pressure on other countries - across the line into the use of military force to do likewise. This makes...

In this news round-up of the week for January 2nd 2026, President Trump threatens military action against Iran, as the regime there tries to cope with mass protests. Global warming is already hitting Southern Europe so hard that growers there are having to give up traditional crops such as citrus fruit. Elon Musk makes a shocking observation about the state of government that someone really ought to do something about. And the people that took Russian money to fund MAGA Influencers have been allowed back into the US - because foreign interference is just fine so long as it’s Vl...

What are the three basic values and processes of democratic systems that we are most in danger of losing - both in Trump's United States and much of Europe, and elsewhere in the world? And - having identified what makes a healthy democracy work, how can we halt the process of democratic decline that we see all around us? In other words, how can we make 2026 the beginning of the fightback for democracy against autocracy? Well, let's discuss.

The New Year is upon us - a time for new beginnings! But for President Trump, the early days of 2026 could see the Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his tariffs - and to all appearances the merits of the case are overwhelmingly against him. Should the justices rule accordingly, the tariff Plan B will be invoked - and the administration will pretend it's all okay, but it will have defanged Trump by removing his most powerful and arbitrary weapon. Let's discuss.

In the first half of 2025, the massive investment in Artificial Intelligence data centres was by far the largest part of the economic growth that the US economy registered. This reflects a breathtaking scale of activity. But every action has an equal and opposite reaction - and communities across the United States, across the political divide, are starting to vigorously protest all these new energy-hungry data centres. And that presents a particular problem for Trump, allied as he is to the tech billionaires. Let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday December 26th 2025. Trump's America launches a bombing strike against ISIS targets in Nigeria - but with the support of the government there, contrary to its earlier approach. Five Europeans who are deemed to be beastly to American free speech are barred from being in the United States - and why this is a trend we'll be seeing more of. And Trump world is dismayed that the Administration's extraordinary incompetence in its messaging over the Epstein Files has made it far worse, and laster longing, than it ever needed to be.<...

President Trump has launched a new battleship concept for the US Navy, bigger, more advanced, faster - what else could it be called other than 'Trump Class'? But is this project just a misconceived fantasy - a vanity project that could divert major spending from the things the US military actually needs to do to keep pace with its rivals? Or is it the way of the future? And if the latter - why a battleship - given that these were abandoned after the second world war, and for good reason? Well, let's discuss.

President Trump had already told us that he wanted to take over Greenland. Then we got the sense that it was a live project when it was revealed that spies had been sent to the island on a 'covert influence' operation. Now, Trump has announced a "special envoy" for Greenland, placing it at the top of a priority list, and alarming Greenland and Denmark over what this means might be coming next. Meanwhile, Europe pretends that nothing much has changed with the US, and we're all still the best of allies. At what point does that change? Let's discuss.<...

In its recent National Security Strategy, the Trump Administration lay claim to Central and South America as being 'its neighbourhood', where it would exert more control and expect to be able to shape events to its satisfaction. And it specifically said it would seek to push out third party countries, and it was clear that this meant China. But China just released its own strategy, and it's making it clear that it has no intention of going anywhere. Let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday December 19th, 2025. President Trump addresses the nation, and it's fascinating for what it says about the pressure the administration is under. President Putin addresses the nation, and apart from the stark contrast, it's worth noting what it says about the end game for Ukraine. And the Epstein Files release day is today - and the administration will fail the requirement to release all of them, because they just haven't had time to censor them all. Let's jump in.

President Trump's trusted and loyal chief of staff, Susie Wiles, always known as the quiet person who got everything done, has hit the news big time with a series of interviews she did with Vanity Fair, where she gave strikingly honest assessments of her colleagues, some of Trump's recent actions and his motivations. It made a big impact - some of it wasn't news, or at least shouldn't have been. But some of it was important background to the administration's political strategy and the White House infighting and debate. Let's discuss.

By all accounts, the MAGA faithful are starting to despair at the disconnect between what candidate Donald Trump promised during his election campaign, and what President Trump is actually delivering. Whether it comes to affordability, the Epstein Files, Artificial Intelligence and more - Trump is seen as aligning with billionaires and tech oligarchs, not the ordinary people. And, according to a series of articles in the Washington Post today, he's simply not listening to the feedback, which could mean nothing is going to improve much from this point forward. Let's discuss.

In an interview a few days ago, Elon Musk - normally the purveyor of hubris and inflated promises - said that DOGE had been "a little bit" successful. This was clearly the closest to reality he could bring himself to admit in public, but the fact he went on to say that he wouldn't do it if he had his time again really tells the story. So that moment of self-reflection is worth noting. But then you have to note how he remains of the view that his vision for the world must be indulged by governments worldwide, and...

In this news round-up of the week for Friday December 12th 2025: President Trump's Navy seizes an oil tanker carrying Venezuelan crude which highlights what may be the real reason why he won't stop until Maduro is gone; A leaked briefing paints in vivid colours the reality that if the US ends up in a shooting war with China, America itself expects to lose, in spite of all its expensive weapons; And while some are excited that the Epstein files are supposed to be released next week, there are two good reasons to presume it's going to be yet another...

One of the big stories of 2025 has been the plummeting rates of foreign tourists entering the United States. Whether because President Trump has insulted their countries, or because they just don't fancy visiting the country the US has become - people are staying away in droves. Now, as though that isn't nearly bad enough, the Trump administration seems determined to impose even more onerous and intrusive tests on the way in - with the possibility that if you have the "wrong opinions" about the Dear Leader, you might not be let in at all. Let's discuss.

European leaders and Ukraine's President Zelensky have been meeting yet again to agree a way forward in the face of Trump's pressure for Ukraine to sign a variation on its one-sided deal with Putin's Russia. And STILL, after Trump's dismissive insults towards them all has been codified as official US security policy - they are keeping up the pretence that the US is still Europe's biggest ally. Why? When do we re-enter a world where public figures talk in a relatively frank way about how they see the world, and what their objectives are? Let's discuss.

The new Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, established a great rapport with President Trump right from the start - or so it seemed. But when she immediately lined up with Trump to draw a hard line with Xi Jinping's China, she turned around and discovered he wasn't there. Trump's America is interested, according to it's recent National Security Strategy (and its observed behaviour) in money. Not geopolitics. Not values. Money. Japan, having attracted the fury of Beijing, is suddenly wondering if its best ally is no longer an ally at all. And even the uncertainty throws the stability...

In this news round-up of the week for Friday December 5th 2025 - The US launches its new security strategy, and it doesn't mince words in laying out the real thinking behind Trump's bizarre foreign policy. The question is - will Europeans actually do anything about the admission that Trump aims to replace them all with far-right parties, that he aims to hand Ukraine to Russia, or any of the rest of it - or will they keep pretending it's business-as-usual? Also, the Ukraine Russia peace negotiations fizzle as they were always going to, and the EU rankles Trump's America...

President Trump assumed that waving a big stick in front of Venzuela's Nicolas Maduro would result in him agreeing to step down, since the US has all of its economic and military might to bring to bear. But Maduro has called his bluff, and suddenly Trump is finding that the ground is disappearing under his feet. The attacks against boats are attracting talk of war crimes. Congress is starting to get seriously unhappy. And the latest revelation about a second strike made just to kill survivors - a war crime in any similar context - has the administration changing...

NATO is realising that the hybrid warfare being waged against it by Russia, via sabotage, airspace incursions, disinformation and hacking attacks, are too serious to continue to be shrugged off. So today one of NATO's top military leaders put it out there that NATO should be taking more aggressive and proactive action, and that such action would count as a defensive measure in the current situation. This matches the threat - but it suffers the one drawback that the lynchpin member of NATO is President Trump's United States. And Trump is very obviously a Putin ally. So could NATO...

According to the Washington Post, President Trump's defence secretary Pete Hegseth ordered specifically that there should be no survivors from the first of the US military strikes against boats in waters close to Venezuela. This meant that when two people survived the initial strike, the US navy carried out a second strike specifically just to eliminate those survivors - an act that would be considered by international law as murder, as a war crime, or both. The news has Republicans in Congress launching moves to hold the administration to account in another symbol of Trump's fading grip on his...

In this news round-up of the week for Friday, November 28th 2025. President Trump faces a major legal backlash as analysis shows hundreds of judges have ruled his latest actions on deportations to be illegal - and now a class action is coming that may force a change in policy. Taiwan shows how it is coming to terms with the unreliability of its greatest ally. Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff shows the world he's really all-in on Russia's side. And I reply to a viewer comment.

This week, we saw the Trump Administration trying to blackmail the EU with steel and aluminium tariffs to get it to dismantle its regulations on big tech. We saw scandal in Switzerland over the donations to Trump of a Rolex clock and a gold bar to get tariffs reduced there. And we saw Trump declare that, as the host of the next G20 meeting in 2026, he is going to bar South Africa from attending because he has special opinions that must be accommodated. But in all of them, there are - to different degrees, and with caveats - signs...

A couple of weeks ago, Michelle Obama said that America wasn't ready to vote for a woman as President. Today, in the UK - which has had three women Prime Ministers and counting - another woman in a top position - Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, got to hold the centre of attention of the country for a couple of days having complained about misogyny and 'mansplaining' that she has to deal with. These statements have to deal with an inconvenient truth. Let's discuss.

We've talked before about the two sides of MAGA - the personality cult / ideological part, which is noisy and enthusiastic at times, and perpetually confused with Trump's frequent inconsistencies - and the tech billionaire part, with their views on the post-democracy AI future they think they should be left to bring about. Earlier predictions that these two might not be the best of room-mates are becoming a safer and safer bet every day. Let's discuss.

As expected, European and Ukrainian leaders have been locked in urgent talks with the US as they try to negotiate down the Trump Ukraine Surrender Plan to something more acceptable. As they do so, Trump is plumbing new depths in his public expression of contempt for Ukraine, saying that it's leaders have not been sufficiently appreciative of everything he has done for them. For some reason, he failed to list all those things. But needless to say, in spite of the stupidity, it all matters a great deal. So let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday, November 21st, 2025, we examine the text of Trump's Ukraine surrender plan and the attempt to force Ukraine to sign it, with the threat of letting Putin win the war if it doesn't. We also look at Japan's new Prime Minister facing a massive confrontation with China over Taiwan, and the UK's detailed COVID-19 inquiry report.

It's just been revealed that Putin's Russia has been working in secret with the Trump administration to agree what is described as a 28-point plan, based on the Gaza peace plan. One thing is clear - if such a plan is taking shape, it is doing so very much according to Putin's desires which, by definition, means an extremely rough deal for Ukraine. It seems that President Trump retains the belief that first led him to imagine he could end the Ukraine war 'very quickly' - that if he can agree a deal with Vladimir Putin, he will then...

With one abrupt and astonishing U-turn, President Trump has removed all doubt that he's prematurely entering the lame duck phase of his presidency. Faced with a massive revolt by Republican lawmakers to vote for the Epstein files to be released, he used the masterful arts of a confused toddler in seeking to persuade them that, contrary to everything said and done so far, he really wants them to vote YES to release the files. It's a breathtaking collapse, and the end of the period when he can push his party to do whatever he wants. An absolutely pivotal moment...

Lots of questions for this video to celebrate my long-delayed YouTube silver button! Lots on the United States and democracy, what the Trump administration end game is, whether the US will be able to recover its democracy after Trump's term is over and more. Also, what did Putin hope to get out of threatening to give Venezuela weapons to use against the US? And then a few questions about me. Let's dive straight in.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday November 14th 2025 - An announcement by Trump's War Secretary Pete Hegseth seems to signal a completely new focus for how America uses its military power in the future, and it's not great news for Latin America. Trump is mired once again in the Epstein files - but what is at the heart of the weird contradiction we're seeing play out before our eyes? And the BBC respectfully tells Trump it will contest his desire to sue it for a billion dollars, even though he seems to think this would be...

Boycotts rarely work, and even the ones that do, rarely stick. But Canadians are making themselves the exception. Ten months in, they are still avoiding travelling to the US in significant numbers. They are still shunning American brands in the stores in significant numbers. And while they're doing that, they're looking with new eyes to many of the potential other partners - including Trump's biggest geopolitical rival, China. Let's discuss.

The UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer has gone to great lengths to stay on the right side of President Trump since he was re-elected. All the usual flattery, plus an unprecedented second state visit, with all the pomp and pageantry. But it was always obvious that sooner or later, Donald Trump would cross a line too far, and push the 'special relationship' into crisis. We learned this week that the first fissure has appeared, thanks to America's blatantly illegal attacks on boats in the waters near to Venezuela - not to mention it's possibly attacking the country now its...

On one level, the BBC made some pretty evident mistakes on impartiality - and most damagingly on a documentary on Trump, the echoes of which quickly reverberated across the Atlantic. And as a result, Tim Davie, the Director General had to resign. But there's a lot more to the story than that - and the truth is that the institution has been under attack for the last few years as political polarisation has made its mission increasingly impossible. Let's discuss.

President Trump just unleashed a barrage on social media where he railed against the Supreme Court, against anyone and everyone who is against tariffs - and then he, apparently by-the-by, said that everyone would be getting a $2000 payment. It's not the first time such things have been suggested as a result of the income from tariffs - but it was a very specific promise at this very specific moment. And what it shows is that Trump is beginning to panic that the Supreme Court is going to rule against him, and he is shaken that the recent elections showed...

In this news round-up of the week, Russia considers giving Maduro its latest hypersonic missiles to use to defend himself against Trump's America, even as China is protesting about his threats to its strategic partner Nigeria. The administration has begun a charm offensive to persuade its supposed allies that it really CAN be trusted when it comes to intelligence sharing. And Elon Musk is granted a theoretical $1 trillion payday - the big 'if' attached to it doesn't cancel the enormity of what that figure for one person really represents. Also, I answer a viewer comment and announce a Q...

Political fortunes can turn on a dime. One second, a major figure can seem immovable, all powerful - then suddenly something shifts and they're left trying to hold it all together as it slips from their grasp. This week has seen a series of failures for Trump that has dented his projected image of power, and reminded Congressional Republicans that politics-as-usual probably still applies, and in that world Trump will never be on the ballot ever again. It's early days, but already we're seeing the signs that this could be the week a line was crossed. Let's discuss.

The lower courts have both ruled that the bulk of Trump's tariffs are plainly unconstitutional. Now it has come to the Supreme Court, and it's arguably the moment the Conservatives on the court have been dreading. The case seems legally very clear that Trump has no case. The hearing that took place today sounded very much like a majority of them were sceptical of the arguments put before them. But Trump REALLY wants this power the way he can have it under this measure. While he could rebuild a higher tariff base with other measures, he couldn't so arbitrarily...

The Trump MAGA base - with its mix of personality cultists, conspiracy theorists and uneasy traditional Republicans - is in uproar right now as Tucker Carlson's recent interview with Nick Fuentes was seen by many to breach the line. The fight over what can, or cannot, be normalised is an early sign of the fight for the future soul of MAGA for the post-Trump era. Meanwhile, the other part of MAGA - that which is being planned and executed by the tech bros and other billionaires - is organising quietly, but not wholly unnoticed. New details of how they...

Two stories came out today. One - it's becoming clear just how aggressively the Trump administration threatened delegates to the International Maritime Organisation to push them not to vote for the net zero carbon tax on international shipping. Two - we have Trump threatening Nigeria with an armed incursion by American forces in the face of what Trump rather absurdly suggests is an 'existential' genocide for Christians in Nigeria. Very different issues - but with one inescapably common element. And it's notice that even now much of the trade stuff is dying down, Trump's modus operandi with the world...

In this news round-up of the week, Trump orders a resumption to nuclear testing - a move that would have major global consequences, and apparently he did so on a complete misunderstanding of reality. The Netherlands election shows that far-right populism can be reversed where it is taking hold in Europe. A MAGA-friendly major German influencer is the first to take up Trump's invitation to seek asylum in the United States. And we pick up on stories on China, and Bill Gates covered earlier in the week. And I answer questions on Trump's ICE private militia and whether Russia...

President Trump's much-anticipated summit with China's Xi Jinping has confirmed what was already obvious to all but the most MAGA-faithful - Trump lost the trade war he picked with China. The threat of crippling restrictions on strategically essential rare earth minerals will be held over America's head to be reviewed every year. Donald Trump thought he held all the cards, but it turns out he badly miscalculated. As a result, we now live in a world where interdependence has been weaponised by the powerful. Let's discuss.

Headlines are on all the major news sites - Bill Gates just did a major u-turn on climate change. He now says it's NOT the end of the world. He says the United Nations needs to pivot. And he says all this just a week before the next COP climate conference is due to start in Brazil. What's going on? Well, the headlines - most of them - are not telling the accurate story. And few of them are tracing the causal factors back to the Trump administration - and how its dismantling of USAID has completely rocked the...

We know that Trump would LOVE to run for a third term - not least because he keeps telling us so. And now some of his people, such as Steve Bannon, are saying that it's all possible, although they won't yet say how. It could well just be trolling, but let's say for a moment that they're right. It's possible. There's a pretty good rationale for why it would potentially wreck their movement, and destroy their momentum if they were to try to go for it. While staying within the bounds of what we know about Trump's support base...

President Trump has arrived in Malaysia for his tour of Southeast Asia. Pausing in Malaysia only to do some embarrassing dancing and signing supposed peace deals, he will be heading to Japan to give new Prime Minister Takaichi her first real test, and then to South Korea where the highlight will be an in-person summit meeting with Xi Jinping. Scott Bessent said that positive progress has been made with the Chinese in advance of the summit, but given Trump's preference for little preparation and maximum playing it by ear, is he really ready for the hardball play he can...

In this news round-up of the week - Trump declares sanctions against the two biggest Russian oil companies - will it finally push China and India away from Putin? The president also attacks Canada for - um - quoting Ronald Reagan entirely accurately when it comes to tariffs, and declares that the trade negotiations are OVER. But it seems likely the outrage over the ad is just a cover. And Trump shocks even conservative outlets such as Fox News with his most nakedly autocratic actions so far. Let's discuss.

Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, in service of President Trump, is on a mission to de-wokify the US armed forces. Well, okay. But what else? The top generals and other senior leaders expect their leader to focus on strategy and big-picture stuff. So imagine how underwhelmed they must have been when he gathered them all together for a big talking to - only to tell them to lose weight and get a haircut. Along with that, and some of the disastrous actions since, some of those top generals are starting to let their real feelings leach out into...

President Trump's America is making a thing out of lecturing its allies about the importance of free speech. And yet while doing this, they spread toxic disinformation over and over again, and you quickly realise that America believes - uniquely of any country currently in the world - that 'free speech' means the 'right to lie'. But this definition is a relatively recent one. So let's discuss how it changed, and why this perversion of one of the most important democratic principles should be resisted.

The planned second summit between President Trump and Vladimir Putin is suddenly off - following the realisation that Russia has no intention of negotiating, it is only interested in surrender. This is a massive humiliation to Trump having come off all the hubris around the Middle East peace deal, to find that he isn't being given the time of day by the one dictator he truly admires. But at the same time as all that's happening, we are learning that European security forces are no longer sharing all the things with Trump's America that they used to. Let's discuss.<...

We knew that Trump had been somewhat swayed by Russia's Vladimir Putin in their phone call last Thursday, but it has just been revealed today just how much Trump threw Putin talking points verbatim at Ukraine's President Zelensky when they met at the Oval Office on Friday. All the progress of recent weeks, where Trump had become more positive towards Ukraine, seem to have been reversed. Instead, Trump was going further than ever in demanding Zelensky accept Russia's terms for ending the war - in other words, surrender. And this is the backdrop for the proposed Trump / Putin summit...

President Trump is used to getting his way - with just about anyone (except possibly Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping). In particular, he's used to being able to threat tariffs or other measures and have most of the countries of the world falling in line, doing whatever he demands in order to avoid his wrath. But this week, the world is about to agree a measure that introduces a global tax - and even worse than that, a global tax relating to climate action. Trump's America has bellowed 'no', and is threatening all sorts of reprisals if countries vote...

While Trump was being treated as an all-conquering hero in the Middle East, he had hanging over him the one fight he just realised he can't win - his renewed trade blow-up with Xi Jinping's China. Having threatened yet another bombastic massive tariff barrage in response to China's control of rare earth minerals, he quickly started to backpedal. Almost as though he remembered what happened the last time they went that route. The thing is that China's moves now are affecting the whole world - and China and the US are both pushing other countries to pick a side...

Let's say that the 2028 Presidential Election goes ahead, and Trump has imploded over the course of his term, so that regardless of their various attempts to weight the scales in their favour, MAGA Republicans lose. The new incoming administration is going to face a remarkably transformed America. And they will have to have a very clear idea of the spirit, and the detail, of how they hope to move forward. They will need to do so knowing that tailwinds for Trump will turn into headwinds for them. And there will be powerful enemies, and difficult temptations. Do they need...

In this news round-up of the week, China stuns the West and infuriates Trump by expanding its tight control over more of its rare earth minerals - with particular implications for Western militaries. Trump's many court cases are starting to get more and more pushback from judges exasperated with the administration's arrogance and incompetence, just as another vengeance indictment is brought against Letitia James. The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded, which for some reason gets a lot more attention this year than usual. Also, I answer a Patreon question on Europe and Trump if Russia loses the war. Let's...

It may only be the first part that will be implemented, but even so the Trump peace deal for Gaza represents - against all the odds - a real breakthrough. Both parties have swallowed a starting position that crosses their previous red lines. But while families are anxiously awaiting the release of hostages, and everyone is celebrating as though peace has finally been delivered, the truth is that there is a lot more hard work to be done. And there's nothing in the somewhat juvenile posturing right now that suggests that here is an administration equal to the task...

The US / EU trade deal was always tricky - within hours of it being signed the two sides were giving radically different interpretations of what it covered. Well, now - unsurprisingly - President Trump is back and he has the EU's regulations in his sights. Specifically, any regulations that get applied to American companies, such as the tech giants. He has environmental rules in his sights, as well as privacy and anti-trust laws. He's doing it because the EU demonstrated weakness in negotiating the deal. The question is - will they now push back against the demands, at the...

French President Emmanuel Macron's fifth prime minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned after just a couple of weeks in post, as it became obvious that the task was simply impossible. This leaves France in a political mess, largely because of its ongoing economic mess. However, this goes way beyond France. Arguably, Macron's France is just the advance guard for the political upheavals that are coming to all Western democratic countries - and soon. Sounds like something we should discuss!

Judge Diane Goodstein ruled against the Trump administration recently, and got numerous death threats for her pains. Two days ago, her house burned down. At this point, there is no evidence whatsoever that this was a deliberately caused event, but it is obvious - at a time when the rhetoric against judges who impede President Trump has been vitriolic - that it could be the latest incident in the run of political violence incidents. Even if it's not, it's highly instructive just how America has been responding during the early hours when not much is known for sure. Let's...

The Trump 20-point peace deal for Gaza has been welcomed by all the people worldwide who routinely flatter Trump at every opportunity - but also by others, such as the Arab states who have significant influence with Hamas. So should we be optimistic then, with everyone talking about how all the hostages will be freed within days, and this could finally be the big shift - Israel will withdraw, Gaza will be at peace, an oversight body will begin reconstruction leading a pathway to future Palestinian self-rule? Well, not so fast. Because amongst all that optimism, there seems to...

In this news round-up of the week, while testing Europe with drones, Russia's President Putin gives a major speech where he makes a substantial pivot in how he treats Trump's United States in relation to Ukraine. The US government is shut down, and both sides are trying to blame the other for what follows. YouTube gives Trump lots of money to spend on his ballroom. And I answer a Patreon supporter's question about Keir Starmer's Digital ID proposal in the United Kingdom. Let's jump in.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had his email read by a cameraman with a zoom lens, and it exposed the fury going on behind the scenes over President Trump's $20 billion support for Argentina's populist leader Javier Milei. At a time when Trump's tariffs and trade war with China has resulted in American soybean farmers being thrown into crisis, they can't help but notice one thing that has really added insult to injury. Let's discuss.

Pete Hegseth insisted on bringing together the very top brass of all the US military into one room so he could ... lecture them on grooming. And the Warrior Ethos. And then President Trump took over, to give a rambling rant about - well, all the things he usually rants about. Plus a few pointers on using the military within the US against American protestors, and giving permission for the use of lethal force. But mostly it was about anti-woke, and insisting that if they didn't like it, they should resign. In exactly the way that authoritarians through time immemorial...

The Ryder Cup made headlines this weekend - because the MAGA crowd barracked the opposing team, hurled abuse at the players, offensive insults at their wives, even threw beer over Erika McIlroy, and tried to put the European team off their stroke by calling out as they were taking their swing. Ugly, despicable behaviour, just hours after Trump had visited to show his support. Maybe it's a one-off, but it feels more like the MAGA movement is making cruelty a feature of America's face to the world. And this event is therefore more symbolic of the change that's happening...

When President Trump and Stephen Miller argue that heated rhetoric encourages political violence, you might think it is a fair comment point of view. And yet, it's impossible not to note that both utilise more inflammatory language than almost anyone else. And their opponents frequently point this out ... to almost zero effect. This video is about why the blatant hypocrisy works as a device for preparing the population for authoritarian acts of impunity. It matters, because if the opposition is to be effective, they have to stop falling into the traps set for them. So let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week, we cover the Trump DOJ move at last to put into practice the boss's public instructions to get an indictment. Even if this case stands little chance of success, it is a new front and will be the first of numerous attempts to come. Also we discuss Tulsi Gabbard abandoning future-looking Intelligence reports because the facts don't fit the current ideology. RFK Jr's puzzling harangue of the United Nations on health. YouTube's admission that it was put under pressure by the Biden Administration to censor content, and Albania's new AI initiative that...

After his big moment berating the United Nations, President Trump met with President Zelensky and had things to say on the Ukraine war that nobody was quite expecting. Not only was Zelensky astonished, the Europeans stunned, but Russia's administration reacted with a sharpness that we've not seen in reaction to Trump so far this year. Something has changed - but does it actually mean anything? And why has the US quietly paused selling weapons to NATO countries? Well, let's discuss.

Just when it looked like the Trump Administration could just demand whatever it wanted and all the institutions, all the corporations, all the politicians would ultimately just quietly fold - finally at least one corporation - for now - has stood back up again. And the result of that move by Disney / ABC is that the Jimmy Kimmel Show is back on air from tonight. But this is the beginning of the fight, not the victory. The local affiliates who pulled the show from their areas are still not distributing it. The FCC Chair is swearing he didn't intend...

We all know about China's surveillance state - it's pretty terrifying, but it was built more or less from the ground up to suit the authoritarians. Every other autocrat - or would-be autocrat - will have to retrofit the technology onto existing internets that were built by private companies following demand, rather than any kind of state-sponsored plan. Russia is now leading the way - with a three-tier plan that is being executed right now. And when you look at what it's doing - well, there's some spooky parallels with things that Trump is doing in the very different...

The Charlie Kirk memorial today marked the inflection point that MAGA believes the event of his assassination represented. As a result, the administration has ramped up its move against President Trump's opponents. Yesterday, Trump accidentally told the world that he is pushing the Attorney General Pam Bondi towards bringing prosecutions against key political figures. It could not be more blatant - but blatant is suddenly becoming the standard operating practice. Is MAGA mistaking the moment - thinking that Kirk's death has given them permission to go further and faster than they really have? Which is why suddenly even some...

In this news round-up of the week - In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk's assassination, the Trump team has been acting quickly on its intended crackdown on opponents. Trump's FCC chairman got rid of another late night comedian, Jimmy Kimmel. Trump designated Antifa as a terrorist organisation. But this is just the start - various experienced politicians close to the action identify that the real target is much bigger. Also, it is confirmed that Alexei Navalny was poisoned in prison. Russia tests NATO again. And we learn that the AI robot revolution - well, it faces an apparent formidable...

As we already anticipated, the aftermath of the shooting of Charlie Kirk is seeing a wave of increasingly audacious action by the Trump Administration to crack down on political opponents and criticism of their operation. Now, following the previous shutting down of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, we have the next in line - with Jimmy Kimmel's show being cancelled for what seems, on inspection, to be a pretty safe commentary. But what was safe yesterday, is no longer safe. Not since the FCC is leveraging corporate cowardice to get its way. Let's discuss.

As the COP30 climate conference approaches, it's hard to ignore that a backlash against climate policy - and a scepticism in some quarters about climate change full stop - is growing in many parts of the world. Partly, this is down to the Trump effect, with Trump himself actively pushing countries to commit to fossil fuels, and with MAGA-style populists taking up the anti-net zero theme wherever they rise. Partly, it's also due to the moment - and the fact that the political pendulum swings back eventually. So what does that mean for our progress in actually getting on...

The Trump Administration is full of talk about the crackdown they will be bringing in the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. President Trump has said he wants George Soros to be in prison. Maybe Antifa could be designated a terrorist organisation. Maybe various trans groups. Stephen Miller has ideas of his own, as does JD Vance. Pam Bondi wants to go after 'hate speech'. All they need is some tenuous link between their target and what they're calling 'radical left lunacy'. And some of the links so far are pretty tenuous. So is this really going to...

The US and Xi Jinping's China have been conducting more trade talks - and today it was announcement that maybe they'd reached a deal ... on TikTok. Meanwhile, the consequences of President Trump's tariffs are really starting to make themselves felt, with American soybean farmers having no orders from China, with all farmers suffering from soaring input costs, and meanwhile China is buying more than it ever has from countries like Brazil, and selling more than it ever has to the continent of Africa. Those consequences are going to become more an more far-reaching, and they are likely to outlive...

In this Q&A video I cover Europe giving up on expecting Trump to play a part in Ukraine peace process, predictions for our polarised societies - is this here to stay? Why is the US stock market so strong despite the downsides of Trump's tariffs? Did we learn the lessons from Kamala's defeat? Trump's intentions on Alberta separatism. The impact of US poisoned politics on the UK. Teflon Trump. What should Brits do about racism? And then a couple of questions on my political past.

In this news round-up of the week for Friday September 12th 2025 - The fall-out from the assassination of Charlie Kirk continues, and the Trump team are talking about the shape of the retribution to come. The shooter himself is in custody, no thanks to Kash Patel's FBI, although he's keen to take the credit. One country just had a revolution, all because the government tried to ban social media. Donald Trump says the drone incursion sent into Poland by Russia could well have 'been a mistake' as Russia gears up for major war game exercises near the border. And...

The tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk has jolted America, but seems unlikely to provide the crisis moment that shocks the country awake to its catastrophic decline towards crisis. The rise of political violence is a reflection of the intense polarisation, as well as the influence of social media bubbles that help each side to dehumanise the other. The question will be what the Trump administration does next with this. That could go very dark, or could be passed up entirely. Either way, it's hard to see a circumstance where this situation improves quickly. Let's discuss.

Russia sent a number of drones into Poland - the first major incursion into NATO territory that Russia has made in recent times. This provoked NATO forces to shoot down those drones - but the outstanding question is - what's the play? Most likely, it is all about Vladimir Putin poking NATO trying to reveal to the world, and to itself, that President Trump's America will run away if it thinks that Article 5 might be close to being invoked. It's a dangerous game - and one that might well succeed. Let's discuss.

The concerns about the Trump Administration's summary execution of eleven people in a boat in international waters off Venezuela - alleged to be gang members involved in drug smuggling - have been growing louder. This burst into full view with an angry spat between vice president JD Vance and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul over Vance's statement of impunity over the action. Meanwhile, the US forces remain in place, Venezuela is poking them with near fly-pasts by its air fighters, and it could all escalate further at any moment. Let's discuss.

The stoics would tell you that you can't control what happens to you in the world, you can only control how you respond to it. Well, it turns out that having a post-truth populist in charge of the most powerful country in the world has ripple effects over the rest of the world. Other world leaders, the mainstream media, and indeed other autocrats - it could be that the majority of Trump's impact on the world will come not from the individual acts he takes, but how the rest of the world changes its own behaviours to cope with...

Trump is coming to the UK in ten days time. And not just for any old visit, but for a 'very special' and 'unprecedented' second state visit. All the pomp and pageantry ... and protest. In this video I answer the question, what SHOULD Brits do about the honoured guest Trump when he arrives for his state visit. Is there anything they could do that would make any sort of difference? Well, let's discuss.

We'd already picked up that Trump's America wanted to pull resources from Europe and the Middle East with a view to concentrating its full focus on its main rival and growing threat - China. Well, a leaked draft Defence Strategy seen by Politico, has revealed that the thinking has done a sharp pivot specifically in relation to China. It is hugely consequential, and might reflect the core of a strategy that survives Trump and defines America's future place in the world. So let's discuss.

In this news round-up of the week, Trump sides with Putin in blaming European leaders for his frustrations about the lack of progress in ending the Ukraine war. The US blows a boat with eleven people out of the water because it has decided they are narco-terrorists. The world's smallest and newest petrostate just had a crucial election. And a good old-fashioned British tabloid feeding frenzy has brought the deputy Prime Minister down. Plus, I respond to a comment on a recent video.

The leader of Reform UK and best bud of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, testified to Congress yesterday and told Americans that the UK has a free speech crisis and has become akin to North Korea. That is patently absurd, and some of the supporting evidence given for it is likewise. But some of it is not, and some of the most telling instances are not even being highlighted. So what's really going on? Let's discuss.

China has been hosting an economic summit that brought together Russia, Indian and numerous other countries from the global south. And then it topped that off with one of its spectacular military parades that put Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in the spotlight, and rather showed up Trump's birthday parade as being a pale imitation. But the serious business underlying all this is the growing momentum the Trump administration is giving to the growth of a powerful and assertive group of non-Western nations, and the rise of China as the first and most powerful amongst them...

Back in May, we saw the numbers of visitors to the United States plummeting in the wake of President Trump's attacks on most countries in the world with his tariffs and much else besides. Particularly with visitors from Canada, but also Europe and elsewhere. It was speculated that, if it continued, it would wipe billions of revenue off the US tourism industry and leave a lot of, particularly small, tourist businesses in significant trouble. So at the end of the holiday season, how much did those predictions bear up? As it turns out, pretty robustly. With one interesting exception...

Lots of people have been speculating this weekend that maybe Trump has been out of sight because his health isn't good. That all seems overblown, but it did focus people's minds briefly on what would come next had it been the case. And the fact is that there are reasons to think it would be substantially different, and in many ways potentially much more difficult even than the erratic Trump 2.0 experience. It all focuses on the rise of artificial intelligence, and how the race to the bottom on AI-enabled authoritarianism, and the rise of tech companies as sovereign global...

If anything has defined Donald Trump's second term as president, it is his use of tariffs to bully the world into giving the US highly unequal trade deals. He has used tariffs as an economic bludgeon, but also a political punishment weapon - targeting India and Brazil for political, not economic, reasons. Well, now it is all up in the air as the appeals court has confirmed that all of it was Trump exceeding his powers and authority. Now he is left dangling for months waiting for the Supreme Court to rule - and if it upholds the decision...

In this news round-up of the week, countries are forming common-interest groups across the world to find ways to reduce their exposure to Trump's America and to work on the old rules-based trade order. Also, the world postal services stop sending parcels to the US. Russia pummels Ukraine's capital - Europeans hope Trump will take note, and you can guess how that goes. The head of the CDC is fired for not being anti-vax enough. And more. Plus, I answer a couple of your questions.

You're not supposed to be able to use the Presidency of the United States in order to enrich yourself. Indeed, previous presidents provoked controversy even from commanding lucrative deals AFTER they'd been in the office. But all those rules are out of the window with President Trump. Between deals for Trump licensing, gifts, crypto initiatives, and more - Trump has been doing very well indeed over the last seven months. Indeed, once you step back you can't help but notice - his distinctive style of confrontational leadership couldn't be better calculated to encourage lots of wealthy people to see...

We knew that Trump's Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had directed spies to go into Greenland as part of a covert influence operation. Now, Denmark has identified three individuals doing exactly what she had directed - gathering names of potential supporters to try to seed a secessionist movement, to create conflict and division between Greenlanders and Denmark. This shows that, not only has Trump's ambition to take Greenland not gone away, but it's likely that lack of progress to date may prompt him to become impatient. Let's discuss.

We know all about some of the very public moves - gerrymandering in Texas, for instance. But across multiple measures - many of which are hidden in plain sight - Trump's MAGA Republican Party is step by step dismantling America's processes for ensuring free and fair elections. The details don't capture the public attention, but unless they're halted, it could be the start of an extended dark period for the US the like of which it hasn't seen for a very long time. Let's discuss.

The US used to lead the world in its innovation, including in energy and industry, and also in its medical advances. And that was because it invested in scientific knowledge, and turned that knowledge into useful services that were easily sold to the whole world. Now, the Trump administration is fixated on articles of faith, not actual scientific advance. It hates renewable energy, which the rest of the world sees as the technology of the future. It hates the mRNA vaccine technology that Trump originally championed during the Covid pandemic, but which has become mired in conspiracy theories. And...

It was just a couple of days ago that President Trump was telling us in no uncertain terms that Ukraine needed to be able to hit deep inside Russia to have a chance of defending itself - and that it had been a major failure of Biden to have not let them do this for so long. And yet, it was revealed today that Trump's Pentagon has been blocking Ukraine from doing just that - and it doesn't seem inclined to change that. On Ukraine's Independence day, let's discuss this latest evidence that the US is an adversary of...

For just a few days, there was an illusion of real momentum arising from the Trump Putin Summit in Alaska, and the Zelensky Europeans meeting with Trump in the Oval Office. But very quickly, reality is reasserting itself. All the concessions that Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff believed they had gotten from Putin in Anchorage are dropping one after the other. No, Putin doesn't want to meet Zelensky. No, they haven't adapted their territory demands. No, they haven't agreed to robust security guarantees for Ukraine. And with their most recent statement on the latter, it is impossible to...

Trump's administration has started getting directly involved with businesses in the United States, especially those considered strategic. Up to, and including, taking part-ownership of Intel. But it's the plan to get AI chips being sold to China, with a slice of the revenue going to the government, that has really stirred things up. Not least because China is now turning away from those chips completely after the Trump administration boasted they were selling them redundant tech and boasted they were doing so to trap them. Another genius day in Trump Land. Let's discuss.

Trump loves strong man leaders, and it used to be that he loved Narendra Modi as a result. They were great friends, the world was told, and so Modi thought. The world looks different now as President Trump's America is tariffing India more severely than almost any other country - and doing so allegedly because it buys Russian oil. But is that really the reason? And regardless of why - what will be the impact in a more volatile multi-polar world? Let's discuss.