Mallen Baker: Faultlines

From the start of his second term, President Trump has been 'flooding the zone' with large numbers of major norm-breaking initiatives. The strategy was intended to overwhelm the opposition, exhaust the watchdogs, to get as much done as possible in the shortest time. The problem with that strategy, especially when so many of the initiatives are frankly misconceived, is that the consequences will ev...

European leaders have become clear post-Greenland crisis that Europe needs to disentangle itself from President Trump's America. But Mark Rutte, Secretary-General of NATO, and most famously the 'Trump-whisperer', has other ideas - arguing that purely on a practical basis, Europe is incapable of defending itself without the central participation of the United States. But does that really hold up -...

The yawning gulf between the claims made by the Trump administration after the shooting of Alex Pretti and the events shown by the video evidence widely seen since, has put the US into a major pivot point. Moreso than after the first event, which could have been dismissed as a one-off, an aberration, now all Americans, including GOP senators, including former presidents, and including an awful lot...

We already knew President Donald Trump was irritated that Canada's Mark Carney's speech got rave reviews at Davos. And that it plainly laid out - in words that other leaders have not been daring to voice out loud - how Trump has changed the world, and what medium powers should be doing collaboratively to deal with it. Now, Trump is venting big time by threatening 100% tariffs against Canada should...

In this news round-up of the week for Friday January 23rd, 2026 - Trump's America has a major armada of military force currently heading for Iran. Trump says it's "just in case", but then similar type messages were made about Venezuela. Mark Carney is disinvited from Trump's Board of Peace, which deprives him of the chance to sit down with autocrats and even war criminals from across the world. An...

So Trump did a complete U-Turn on Greenland, and everything is now all right again. Right? Well, not so fast. Why hasn't this detail been written down, and how can the Trump administration have any trust for the process when, just a week ago, they immediately tried to reframe their discussions with Greenland to their own benefit? The fact is that the process of negotiating an 'off-ramp' deal seems...

The Trump administration has stormed the World Economic Forum at Davos in force - and his senior lieutenants, such as Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent have been ruffling feathers and making waves. Today it was Trump's turn, and on the topic that everyone has been talking about, we saw the start of a climbdown from the reckless rhetoric of threatening the use of the military against Greenland. This...

President Trump told Norway that because - in his mind - the country snubbed him for the Nobel Peace Prize, now he believes he no longer needs to only be about peace. Make of that what you will. Meanwhile, he has been announcing and gathering together his so-called Board of Peace, which already has some eye-catching invitees, and a rapidly expanding remit. Meanwhile, Trump is still refusing to rul...

Yesterday, Trump made good on his threats and announced new tariffs to be levied against eight European countries for daring to defy his wish to annex Greenland against the wishes of its residents and of Denmark, whose territory it currently is. And FINALLY this move seems to have pushed the European leaders to the point where they are now ready to give up on the ever-lasting strategy of seeking t...

In this news round-up of the week for Friday January 16th, 2026: Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado hands her medal to President Trump - and it's as cringeworthy as you would expect. Trump threatens punitive action against the countries standing up for Greenland, even as US lawmakers are drawing a line. More consequences of Trump's policies become visible, as Canada's Mark Carney agrees...

He was a highly influential Trump endorser in the election - but he has been critical several times since the Trump administration took office. And this week, in his most forthright commentary yet, even comparing ICE officers to the Nazi Gestapo. This is just a side-note, of course, to the massive chorus of concern that President Trump's souped up immigration police is morphing before our eyes int...

Staring directly in the face of the End Of NATO, the European NATO countries, along with Denmark and Greenland, have come up with their best version of an off-ramp - a solution that would enable President Trump to claim a win, while still keeping Greenland's territorial integrity intact, and the NATO alliance, at least in name. But Trump dashed all hopes with new contributions that made it clear h...

Over the weekend, we heard that Trump had instructed options to be drawn up for taking Greenland through military action. Also, the European NATO members discussed what could be done to fend this off. And the proposal was made that they should send their own military forces to Greenland as soon as possible. But the reason they said they were doing this is certainly not the actual reason. Let's dis...

To mark the start of 2026, and also the milestone of 150k subscribers for this channel, a Q&A, where we cover Trump, Venezuela, Europe, Greenland, economic collapse, and a great deal more besides. Also, I recount the moment where I nearly died in Washington DC. Seriously.

Trump enjoyed his most dramatic "success" at the start of the year, with his military's flawless operation to grab Nicolas Maduro, and to extort Venezuela into giving the US exclusive access to its oil resources. He promised big as a result - American oil companies would now invest $100 billion into Venezuela's crumbling oil infrastructure to bring it back up to peak productivity. But in a major h...

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...

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 t...

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...

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...

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...

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 democ...

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 Tr...

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 energ...

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 i...

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 b...