Trump Started One War. Now He’s Helping Fund Another | Tina Fordham

The global geopolitical landscape is undergoing a profound transition away from a rules-based order toward a fragmented, unpredictable state. Rather than settling into a simple "spheres of influence" model, middle powers are asserting their agency, rejecting the role of rule-takers for major powers like the United States or China. Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy, driven by an ideological obsession with imperial legacy rather than pragmatism, consistently produces counterproductive results, such as the expansion of NATO. Despite objective historical progress in human development metrics like life expectancy and literacy, a pervasive sense of anxiety persists among global populations and investors. This disconnect stems from a feeling of lost control, exacerbated by rapid technological disruption and the erosion of the post-Cold War stability that defined the most peaceful era in human history.