Whiplashed middle powers seek new alliances as Trump rages on world stage

Many observers, including the former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and the former UK foreign secretary David Lammy, predict Trump will concentrate even more on his disruptive foreign policy after November’s midterms, seeking to go even further and faster. Potential legislative gridlock in Congress would block him off from domestic initiatives, so the thinking goes, but much less so foreign policy…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/21/us-allies-donald-trump-world-un-global-order

 

In the general assembly’s shadow, Mamdani looks to bolster international left - POLITICO

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to meet with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, the latest engagement showcasing Mamdani’s desire to build bridges with like-minded politicians outside the U.S…

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/21/in-the-general-assemblys-shadow-mamdani-looks-to-bolster-international-left-01085441

Empire of Grift - The Atlantic

Far-right ideologues have transformed American foreign policy into a tool of private gain and antidemocratic reaction...

 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/10/maga-foreign-policy/688352/

We’re in a Rupture

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/litGXR4P--4?is=FvdIX2jhNRRrHfua

 

What if the dollar lost its status? #historyshorts #history

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4kbMjtH-lUM

 

An Appalling International Embarrassment

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TcPzvq_ANr4

 

Weekly Roundup: The Odyssey, Christian Nationalism, and the Invention of “Western Civilization” (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)

Brad Onishi and Dan Miller explore the American right’s furious reaction to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and what the controversy reveals about race, representation, gender, sexuality, and the politics of “Western civilization.” From outrage over Black actors and queer representation in contemporary adaptations to the right’s insistence that certain stories, traditions, and cultural identities belong exclusively to white people, the conversation examines why the boundaries of “the West” are constantly being defended—and who gets pushed outside them.

The discussion then turns to the rise of civilizational populism and its growing influence on the American right. Brad and Dan unpack how appeals to “Western Christian civilization” are being used to unite Christian nationalists, technocrats, billionaires, and authoritarian political actors around a shared vision of cultural hierarchy and social order. They connect the backlash over The Odyssey to Marco Rubio’s foreign policy, the politics of Venezuela, the disputed results of a national civics competition, and the broader question of who gets to represent the future of America.
Interview: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/weekly-roundup-the-odyssey-christian-nationalism/id1441649707?i=1000778249717

A Real Looming Problem

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4iST4AcTf-c 

 

Crisis looms for Pope Leo as splinter sect seeks to ordain traditionalist bishops

The mounting tension between the Vatican and the SSPX comes as rightwing Catholics have shown an increasing willingness to tussle with the Vatican over political and theological disagreements. Some Catholics in the US, where the most influential lay members tend to be both conservative and wealthy, have supported the Trump administration even as its stances on immigration and foreign policy clash with those of the Vatican… 

The sect has been dogged throughout its history by accusations of antisemitism and ties to the extreme right. 

The Nazi collaborator and convicted war criminal Paul Touvier was arrested at an SSPX priory in France in 1989. (The SSPX said it had taken him in as an act of charity.) In 2009, an SSPX bishop told the press that he believed that no more than 300,000 Jews were killed in the Holocaust. In 2013, the SSPX sparked outrage in Italy by officiating a funeral for a convicted Nazi war criminal, Erich Priebke, who had been denied burial by the Catholic diocese of Rome…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/25/pope-leo-far-right-bishops

 

 

We need to be watching like a hawk.

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/E3weismDns8

This war in Iran is the worst foreign policy blunder since Iraq.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WO2tSK3ckaM 

Retired US army general likens Trump foreign policy to Dolly Parton song

"I'm a big fan of Dolly Parton – do you remember her song Jolene?" McChrystal replied, referring to the country star's Grammy-nominated 1973 hit. "This poor wife says, 'Jolene, please don't take my man; don't take him just because you can.  

"And that's what worries me – I think we might be in a period where we think what we can do, we should do because we can. And I think the world is starting to view us that way."…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/14/jolene-doctrine-us-foreign-policy-stanley-mcchrystal

 

Read NPR's annotated fact check of President Trump's State of the Union : NPR

Reporters from across NPR's newsroom fact-checked his speech and offered context — on topics like immigration, the economy, tariffs and trade and foreign policy...

https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5716277/trump-state-union-fact-check 

 

Trump avoided self-harm in his State of the Union speech. He also missed self-help. - POLITICO

Then there were the issues he avoided addressing: Trump offered no new ideas on housing or health care, two defining issues of the midterm campaign. He made no mention of the Jeffrey Epstein scandals consuming politics in Washington and far beyond. He did not clarify his policy toward Iran, even as he masses air and naval forces in the region...

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/25/trump-avoided-self-harm-in-his-state-of-the-union-speech-he-also-missed-self-help-00797460 

 

Charts show how Trump is isolating the US on world stage

Analysis shows that the world is moving closer to China, as Trump's isolationism rears its head at the United Nations…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2026/feb/13/these-charts-show-how-trump-is-isolating-the-us-on-the-world-stage

 

Canada’s Muscular New Anti-Trump Strategy Debuts in Greenland - POLITICO

Opening a Canadian consulate in Nuuk, the capital of the autonomous territory of Greenland in the Kingdom of Denmark, has been in the works for over a year. But the timing, coinciding with both another round of menacing from U.S. President Donald Trump and bracing talk at Davos by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of the need to forge new alliances, is not lost on anyone here...

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/02/11/canada-greenland-trump-foreign-policy-00775359

 

Canada plants a flag in Greenland - POLITICO

"I am underscoring that opening this consulate has been part of our intentions in our Arctic foreign policy for some time," Anand told POLITICO on Friday after arriving in Greenland's tiny, remote capital. "We will also be opening a consulate in Anchorage."…

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/06/canada-greenland-consulate-opens-flag-00769338 

 

Top U.S. Catholic cardinals urge Trump administration to use moral compass in foreign policy | PBS News

Cardinals question the use of force…

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/top-u-s-catholic-cardinals-urge-trump-administration-to-use-moral-compass-in-foreign-policy 

 

War and America’s role in the world: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in His Own Words

You've probably never heard anything but the "I have a dream" speech. This one is very different, and well worth a listen in the light of current events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCm31YLLDSo

New poll reveals majority of voters oppose US strike on Iran, say Trump has gone too far abroad - POLITICO

A Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters found that 70 percent oppose U.S. military involvement in Iran, even if protesters there are killed while demonstrating against the Iranian government, compared to 18 percent who support military action...

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/14/trump-iran-foreign-policy-00728851