Might is right... until it's not. 2026 began with US commandos grabbing Venezuela’s president with zero casualties, an operation that put the rest of the world was on notice. But now, Donald Trump's first prime time address in nearly five weeks of war worrying markets instead of reassuring them. The US president telling impacted nations to just buy more oil from him and if they’re so worried about energy security in the Strait of Hormuz to go in themselves and sort it.
How should Gulf, European and Asian allies react to this ‘I break it, you fix it’ attitude to warfare? Is it in fact too late to walk away? And even if Washington washes its hands of the war it started with Israel, how to avoid a fresh ten-year cycle of instability in the Middle East?
For the United States, is this a passing blemish? Will midterm elections save those rooting for a return to the world order as it was? History shows that despite setbacks, like the failed 1980 bid to rescue US hostages in Iran, the insurgencies that left the United States bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US ultimately emerged undiminished as the world’s undisputed top superpower. But Trump's now picked a fight an enemy that's both a state and seems able to employ insurgency tactics. Is this a turning point, the one after which the mighty United States of America no longer seems so mighty?
Produced by François Picard, Aline Bottin, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
Our guests
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Jim TOWNSEND Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy
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Kethevane GORJESTANI FRANCE 24 International Affairs Editor; Former Washington correspondent
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André Loesekrug-Pietri President, Joint European Disruptive Initiative
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Benham BEN TALEBLU Senior Director of the Iran Program, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
English (US) · 