The Trump administration’s military assault on Venezuela and apparent capture of the country’s president in the early hours of Saturday morning sparked immediate backlash from leaders in Latin America and across the globe, with lawmakers, activists, and experts accusing the US of launching yet another illegal war of aggression.
Latin American leaders portrayed the assault as a continuation of the long, bloody history of US intervention in the region, which has included vicious military coups and material support for genocidal right-wing forces.
“This is state terrorism against the brave Venezuelan people and against Our America,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote in a social media post, demanding urgent action from the international community in response to the “criminal attack.”
Evo Morales, the leftist former president of Bolivia, said that “we strongly and unequivocally repudiate” the US attack on Venezuela.
“It is brutal imperialist aggression that violates its sovereignty,” Morales added. “All our solidarity with the Venezuelan people in resistance.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, one of the first world leaders to respond to Saturday’s developments, decried US “aggression against the sovereignty of Venezuela and of Latin America.” Petro said Colombian forces “are being deployed” to the nation’s border with Venezuela and that “all available support forces will be deployed in the event of a massive influx of refugees.”
“Without sovereignty, there is no nation,” said Petro. “Peace is the way, and dialogue between peoples is fundamental for national unity. Dialogue and more dialogue is our proposal.”
One Latin American leader, far-right Argentine president and Trump ally Javier Milei, openly celebrated the alleged US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, declaring on social media, “FREEDOM ADVANCES.”
Leaders and lawmakers in Europe also reacted to the US bombings. Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister of Spain, issued a cautious statement calling for “deescalation and responsibility.”
British MP Zarah Sultana was far more forceful, writing on social media that “Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves—and that’s no coincidence.”
“This is naked US imperialism: an illegal assault on Caracas aimed at overthrowing a sovereign government and plundering its resources,” Sultana added.
The Gaza ceasefire proposal released by the White House on Monday included significant changes that were requested by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Axios reported on Tuesday.
The Times of Israelalso reported that Netanyahu was able to secure key changes to the proposal during a meeting on Sunday with US envoy Steve Witkoff and his top advisor, Jared Kushner. According to Axios, the release of the deal with the changes infuriated Arab officials involved in the negotiations.
At a press conference with Netanyahu, President Trump presented his proposal as something that has been widely accepted by the Arab world, though the deal was significantly different than what the US and a group of Arab and Muslim countries had previously agreed to due to the changes.
Jared Kushner and White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff arrive to attend a joint press conference held by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the State Dining Room at the White House, in Washington, DC, September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The changes were related to two of the most sensitive issues in the negotiations: the disarmament of Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. The new proposal ties Israel’s phased withdrawal from territory to the “demilitarization” of Gaza and the ability of an international force to take over the land.
The proposal also essentially gives Israel and the US a veto over the withdrawal from Gaza by stating the IDF “will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the US.”
According to The Times of Israel, the initial proposal approved by the Arab countries simply stated that the IDF “will progressively hand over the Gaza territory that [it] occup[ies].” Even after all conditions are met, the new proposal will allow Israel to occupy a perimeter zone until Gaza is “properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.”
While the language could be interpreted as a requirement for a full Israeli withdrawal, Netanyahu has made clear that he does not see it that way. “Now the whole world, including the Arab and Muslim world, is pressuring Hamas to accept the terms that we created together with Trump, to bring back all the hostages — the living and the dead — while the IDF stays in the Strip,” he said in a video statement on Sunday night.
Hamas’s long-standing position has been that it’s willing to release all remaining Israeli captives in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas has also rejected the idea of disarming until the creation of a Palestinian state or a Palestinian force that could replace its armed wing.
While many details need to be worked out, Trump and Netanyahu have framed the proposal as a final offer that must be accepted or Israel will “finish the job” in Gaza. Trump has also made clear he’s willing to continue backing the genocidal war if an agreement isn’t reached. “If Hamas rejects the deal, Bibi you will have our full backing to do what you have to do,” he said on Monday.
Trump said on Tuesday that he will give Hamas “three or four days” to respond to the proposal. “All of the Arab countries are signed up, the Muslim countries all signed up, Israel’s all signed up. We’re just waiting for Hamas, and Hamas is either going to be doing it or not – and if it’s not, it’s going to be a very sad end,” he said.
President Trump said on Wednesday that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call a day earlier to “keep going” with his attacks on Iran.
The president told reporters that Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in war crimes in Gaza, is a “good man” who has been treated “very unfairly” by his own country. “He’s a wartime president. Going through this nonsense — ridiculous,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments about Netanyahu come amid anticipation over whether or not the US will enter Israel’s war with Iran directly by launching airstrikes. The US has supported the assault by providing weapons and intelligence and intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, but so far hasn’t launched direct strikes of its own.
Trump and Netanyahu at the White House on April 7, 2025 (White House photo)
The president also said on Wednesday that “nobody knows” whether he’ll enter the war or not. When asked if he was moving closer on a decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump said, “You don’t know that I’m going to even do it. You don’t know. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do. I can tell you this, that Iran’s got a lot of trouble.”
In other comments to the press, Trump said he wasn’t interested in an Israel-Iran ceasefire. “We’re not looking for a ceasefire. We’re looking for a total and complete victory. Again, you know what the victory is: no nuclear weapon,” he said.
Netanyahu launched his war of aggression against Iran under the pretext of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but US intelligence assessed before the attacks that Tehran was not pursuing a nuclear bomb.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected President Trump’s demand for an “unconditional surrender” and warned the US against entering the war by launching strikes on Iran, saying the US would suffer “irreparable harm.”
Trump has also threatened Khamenei, claiming the US was aware of his location but wasn’t going to kill him for the time being. “[Trump] has threatened us. Not only does he make threats, but he also uses absurd, unacceptable rhetoric to openly demand that the Iranian people surrender to him. When a person hears such things, it’s truly surprising,” Khamenei said in a televised address.
“It isn’t wise to tell the Iranian nation to surrender. Wise people who know Iran, the Iranian people, and Iran’s history would never utter such words. What should the Iranian nation surrender to? The Iranian nation isn’t a nation that surrenders. We haven’t attacked anyone, and we definitely won’t tolerate anyone attacking us, and we will never surrender in response to the attacks of anyone,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei during his televised address (photo via his website)
The US has supported Israel’s war on Iran by providing weapons and intelligence and by intercepting Iranian missiles and drones. So far, the US hasn’t launched direct airstrikes on Iran, but Trump is considering doing so, especially against the Fordow nuclear plant, which is buried deep underground.
“Of course, the Americans who are familiar with the policies of this region know that the US entering in this matter [war] is 100% to its own detriment,” Khamenei said. “The damage it will suffer will be far greater than any harm that Iran may encounter. The harm the US will suffer will definitely be irreparable if they enter this conflict militarily.”
Iranian ballistic missiles are believed to be able to do significant damage to US bases in the region. Trump was asked on Wednesday if he would launch strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, but wouldn’t say. “I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war under the pretext of stopping Iran from advancing toward a nuclear bomb, but US intelligence agencies had assessed there was no evidence Tehran was working to make a nuclear weapon, and the US was unconvinced by new Israeli intelligence.
Israel’s attack also disrupted negotiations between the US and Iran. Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had asked for a meeting at the White House, but the claim was rejected by Tehran, as Iranian officials have said they won’t negotiate while Israel continues its attacks.
“No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to ‘take out’ Iran’s Supreme Leader,” Iran’s mission to the UN said. “Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.”
Call the White House and tell them you do not want any part of this disastrous war
by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Jun 15, 2025
Sources familiar with the matter have told Antiwar.com Editorial Director Scott Horton that the Trump administration is poised to enter Israel’s aggressive war against Iran directly. US airstrikes on Iran could begin as soon as Monday. Please contact the White House by calling (202-456-7041) or sending an email. Tell them that you do not want the US to enter this disastrous war, which could lead to heavy American casualties at US bases across the Middle East. The US has supported the war by reportedly providing Israel with intelligence and helping intercept Iranian missiles and drones, but so far, there have been no direct US attacks on Iran. Iranian officials have warned that Tehran would hit US bases in the region in response to any US strikes. Axios reported on Saturday that Israel is urging the US to join the war since Israel lacks the bunker-busting bombs necessary to do serious damage to Iran’s Fordow plant, which is buried deep underground. An Israeli official told Axios that President Trump had previously suggested the US could strike Fordow. Trump himself said on Sunday that it was “possible” that the US would get directly involved in the war, which Israel launched early Friday morning with airstrikes across Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started the war under the pretext of preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. But it was the consensus of the US intelligence community that there was no evidence Iran was working toward a nuclear weapon, and Tehran made clear they were ready to make a deal with the US that would significantly lower uranium enrichment levels and increase oversight of its nuclear program in exchange for US sanctions relief. Ali Larijani, an aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has previously said that the one thing that would make Tehran reconsider its prohibition on the development of nuclear weapons would be a US or Israeli attack. “We are not moving towards (nuclear) weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards that because it has to defend itself,” Larijani said on April 1. “Iran does not want to do this, but … (it) will have no choice,” he added. “If at some point you (the US) move towards bombing by yourself or through Israel, you will force Iran to make a different decision.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that President Trump “fully supports” Israel’s renewed massive bombing campaign in Gaza, which has killed at least 200 children since Tuesday.
“The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages, there would be all hell to pay. Unfortunately, Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives,” Leavitt told reporters.
The US and Israel are blaming Hamas for the lack of a continued ceasefire and hostage releases. But it was Israel that repeatedly violated the deal signed in January, which would have led to the release of all Israeli captives, a permanent truce, and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
US President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on February 4, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Leavitt said that President Trump “fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they’ve taken in recent days.”
On Wednesday, the State Department also affirmed the administration’s unconditional support for Israel. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the US will “stand with Israel in every circumstance.”
When asked about the massive child casualties in the Israeli bombing, Bruce pinned the blame on Hamas. “So it’s a shame that Hamas has allowed this to occur, but look nowhere else other than the people who have facilitated this suffering from the beginning,” she said.
Bruce claimed that the administration wants peace, but President Trump has emboldened Netanyahu and his government by supplying huge amounts of military aid and repeatedly calling for the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza instead of pressuring Israel to implement the deal it signed in January.
People mourn relatives killed by Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza on March 18, 2025.
(Photo: Hani Alshaer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This return to violence does not come as a surprise,” said one advocacy group. “Netanyahu has, from the beginning, signaled his intention to abandon the cease-fire process before it could become a lasting peace
A barrage of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday killed more than 400 people and left a fragile cease-fire agreement in tatters just over two months after it was reached, with Israel’s prime minister pledging “increasing military strength” in an enclave already decimated by more than a year of bombing.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the Netanyahu government consulted with the Trump administration ahead of the latest Gaza bombardment. Leavitt expressed the White House’s total support for Israel’s attacks.
While Israel had been carrying out more limited deadly attacks on Gaza despite the cease-fire deal—including strikes over the weekend that killed at least nine—Tuesday’s bombings were described as the “heaviest assault on the territory since the cease-fire took effect in January.”
The cease-fire was a multiphase agreement, with the first phase expiring earlier this month. Talks over the second phase of the agreement had stalled, and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had attempted to impose an alternative deal on Hamas with the backing of the Trump White House. Israel imposed a total siege on the Gaza Strip earlier this month in an attempt to force acceptance of its alternative, leaving more than 1 million children in desperate conditions.
The New York Times reported that the Rafah crossing into Egypt “has been shuttered amid the renewed Israeli strikes. The border zone, the Times noted, “had been the main way for sick and wounded Gazans to leave the enclave during the cease-fire.”
Muhannad Hadi, humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement Tuesday that the fresh wave of Israeli airstrikes “is unconscionable” and that a cease-fire “must be reinstated immediately.”
“People in Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering,” said Hadi. “An end to hostilities, sustained humanitarian assistance, release of the hostages, and the restoration of basic services and people’s livelihoods, are the only way forward.”
“From before his first day in office, President Trump has endorsed the Netanyahu government’s return to war.”
Gaza health officials said the Israeli strikes killed at least 400 people, including women and children. Reutersreported that “in hospitals strained by 15 months of bombardment, piles of bodies in white plastic sheets smeared with blood could be seen stacked up as casualties were brought in.”
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement posted to social media that the Israeli military launched the large-scale strikes due to Hamas’ “repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all of the proposals it has received from U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators.”
Hamas responded that Israel is “fully responsible for violating and overturning the agreement.”
The Israeli strikes came over a month after the Trump administration approved a $7.4 billion sale of U.S. weaponry to Israel, which has repeatedly used American arms to commit war crimes in Gaza.
Sara Haghdoosti, executive director of the U.S.-based advocacy group Win Without War, said in a statement that “we are heartbroken and enraged at the Netanyahu government’s decision to break the cease-fire in Gaza and resume widespread, devastating bombing.”
“This return to violence does not come as a surprise, however,” said Haghdoosti. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, from the beginning, signaled his intention to abandon the cease-fire process before it could become a lasting peace. From before his first day in office, President Trump has endorsed the Netanyahu government’s return to war. Indeed, we fear that Trump’s vile plan for ethnic cleansing in Gaza, so welcomed by the far-right members of Netanyahu’s government, will become the blueprint for the war as it goes forward.”
“Both the blockade and the return to bombing appear designed to create conditions in which Palestinians can no longer live in the Gaza Strip,” Haghdoosti added. “We, and every person of conscience around the world, condemn this campaign of ethnic cleansing unequivocally.”
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next.
It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk.
Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support.
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Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the US expects President Trump to supply Israel with a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that President Biden paused, Axios reported on Monday.
Biden put a hold on a 2,000-pound bomb shipment and a 500-pound bomb shipment back in April as part of a public relations stunt to make it seem like he was putting pressure on Israel over its plans to invade the southern city of Rafah.
Israel ended up invading Rafah, capturing its border crossing with Egypt, and now the city lies in ruin. Other US weapons continued to flow to Israel, and the pause on the 500-pound bombs was lifted in July, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used the pause on the 2,000-pound bombs to complain that Biden was restricting military aid.
Republicans in the US also claimed Biden was restricting military aid to Israel even though he supplied more weapons to Israel in a single year than any other president in history.
“We believe that Trump is going to release, at the beginning of his term, the munitions that haven’t been released until now by the Biden administration,” Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog told Axios.
The release of the bombs is part of a series of agreements the Trump administration reached with Israel to get Netanyahu to agree to the hostage ceasefire deal.
“The Trump team played a major role. They were resolved to get a deal but were very cognizant of our security concerns,” Herzog said. “They got some things from the Israeli side that allowed the deal to go through, and they gave us some things and will give more going forward.”
Netanyahu has said he received assurances from Trump that he could resume military operations in Gaza if he chooses to do so, something Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has confirmed. But there are signs the Trump administration will push for the deal to stick.
Herzog also said he expects Trump to take action against the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“Donald Trump will have no penalty for criminal wrongdoing, which is an affront to accountability and to a system where no one is above the law, though the judge had little alternative,” said one ethics expert.
After being convicted of 34 felonies in New York last year, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday received an unconditional discharge during a sentencing hearing that came just over a week before the Republican’s second inauguration.
Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court—which includes three Trump appointees—allowed the hearing to proceed, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan declined to impose fines or sentence Trump to prison for his crimes, which related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
“Donald Trump will have no penalty for criminal wrongdoing, which is an affront to accountability and to a system where no one is above the law, though the judge had little alternative,” said Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “But now, formally, the next president of the United States is a felon.”
Published date: 2 January 2025 11:10 GMT | Last update:5 days 3 hours ago
The incoming US president’s transactional approach to politics will see immigrants suffer, while suppport for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians will continue
A man shows support for US president-elect Donald Trump near his Mar-a-Lago resort on 14 December 2024 (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images/AFP)
Given his mercurial nature, shifting from the politics of revenge to the politics of accommodation without explanation or changed circumstances, it is foolhardy to predict what lies ahead as Donald Trump prepares to be US president for a second time.
His rhetoric and ideology seem untamed and extreme – and this time around, he enters the White House with a strong electoral mandate as Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, and the support of an ultra-conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
This would seem to ensure the prospect of Trump’s total control over the governing process in the US, but there are some daunting bumps in the road ahead.
Some of the contours of Trump’s presidency have become clear even before he officially returns to the White House. Firstly, it seems certain that he will make millions of undocumented immigrants in the US miserable from day one.It is not a good sign that Trump blamed the New Orleans car incident on weak border security considering it was the work of an American army veteran who recently converted to the Islamic State group.
His obsession with stopping asylum-seekers and immigrants from crossing the border without proper papers is certain to be acted upon. Already, the man Trump has selected as “border czar” has indicated his intention to deport entire families of undocumented persons, including naturalised citizens.
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Trump could get away with this approach, however cruel in application, for a while – but the economics of the labour market will soon pose a challenge, creating strategic labour shortages in such critical sectors as agriculture in the southwestern US, exacerbating inflationary pressures.
There are also considerations around the growing need for skilled workers in the high-tech sector, which will increasingly shape the country’s economic future. These workers have been given high priority in relation to robust economic development, as Trump’s chief adviser, Elon Musk, keeps reminding him.
These concerns will be magnified if Trump goes ahead with his announced plans to place 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, along with punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. Such policies are the surest way to start a mutually destructive trade war.
Global dangers
On foreign policy, the outlook for a Trump presidency is more mixed, but uncertain and globally dangerous. In the beginning, Trump will probably seek to portray himself as a peacemaker, particularly in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war.
This conflict is both an example of the type of “forever war” he rejected during his first term in office, and an opportunity to explore whether a cooperative relationship with President Vladimir Putin’s Russia could circumvent the Atlantic alliance that has been a centrepiece of American foreign policy since the end of World War II.
Pushing for a ceasefire and diplomatic compromise was a grossly negligent missed opportunity during Joe Biden’s presidency, which seemed determined to inflict a geopolitical defeat on Russia, even at the cost of causing a disaster for Ukraine and its people.
Where does Donald Trump stand on Israel, Palestine and the Middle East?
If this change of direction occurs, Nato loyalists will have to rethink European security arrangements, and the American deep state will have to swallow defeat, or use its untested leverage to back the primacy of the US in geopolitical realms by keeping Russia out and Nato in.
When it comes to the Middle East, the story is different in terms of policy priority.
Trump has given every indication of wanting to exceed Biden’s unconditional support for Israel, including through the genocidal onslaught on Gaza, land grabbing, ethnic-cleansing operations and settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, and escalating unlawful violence against regional adversaries.
Trump, by his political appointments and undisciplined commentary, seems determined to “finish the job” in Gaza, which can only be understood as erasing Palestine and Palestinians as obstacles to the rapid establishment of Greater Israel from “the river to the sea”.
Beyond this, he seems determined to confront Iran in a more muscular manner, possibly by destroying its nuclear facilities and taking more overt steps to provoke regime change in Tehran.
These policies, if actualised, would have many risks and adverse consequences, including the possibility of a wider regional war and a surge of anti-US sentiments. They would also cement Israel as the pariah state of our time, which could weaken it to the point of emboldening the peoples of the Arab world to rise up against their western-oriented repressive regimes, and unite behind the cause of liberating Palestine from settler-colonialism.
Contempt for internationalism
Finally, in every way, Trump and his entourage have signalled their opposition to internationalism. Trump has long displayed an unwavering commitment to an ultra-nationalist and transactional world view. He exhibits contempt for addressing global challenges, and for the benefits of cooperative problem-solving, even in the context of climate change.
In this sense, the UN will be valued only to the extent that it fully backs American strategic priorities – and should it dare to censure or oppose these priorities, Trump will surely threaten, and then cut, US funding, or even withdraw US participation.
Given such attitudes, it is not surprising that Trump is dismissive of the regulatory role of international law, especially if directed at restraining the US. Say goodbye to the cynical pretensions of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s “rules-based world order”, which has seemed more a synonym for US-led geopolitics than a genuine submission to universally applicable principles.
In the end, the Trump presidency may be forced to choose between a form of neo-isolationism and neo-imperialism
Trump may unintentionally provide a service to humanity by stripping away the liberal illusions shielding the reality that the US and its friends habitually avoid the constraints of international law that their rivals are bound to obey. In effect, Trump’s nihilism may be preferable to Biden’s hypocrisy.
In the end, the Trump presidency may be forced to choose between a form of neo-isolationism and neo-imperialism. If the isolationist alternative prevails, then an accelerated transition will likely occur from the post-Cold War world of unipolarity to a new era of complex multipolarity.
If the neo-imperialist model prevails, due to a compromise between the ultra-nationalist Trumpists and the globally ambitious American deep state, tensions will emerge between antagonistic forms of multipolarity and competing alliance networks, resembling in structure the Cold War, yet with differences, including the agenda of geopolitical rivalries.
The de-centring of conflict that includes the partial bypassing of Europe is all but certain. Europe is no longer the chief geopolitical prize, as it was in the three 20th-century global wars (including the Cold War).
Whatever else, the Trump presidency is likely to confound expectations, including these, while keeping busy the world’s most influential media platforms.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Richard Falk is an international law and international relations scholar who taught at Princeton University for forty years. In 2008 he was also appointed by the UN to serve a six-year term as the Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights.
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