During the Cold War, the United States occupied the apex of this triangular dynamic, pitting China and the USSR against each other. Today, it is Beijing that occupies that apex.

It is ... inevitable that the direction the country is going in will have to change.

Trump’s willingness to defend an ally may depend upon whether he currently gets along with its political leadership.

Europeans do not have a choice. They have to get along with both Xi’s China and Trump’s America.

[T]he United States had itself rendered that alliance network more fragile.

[I]t is difficult to see how the Gulf nations would agree to sign the Abraham Accords and how the Accords could be a precondition to peace with Iran.

In a globalised economy, the knock-on effect is less of a surge but more of a deluge that reaches East Africa with alarming speed.

Trump appeared more focused on admiring China’s grand ballroom designs and expressing interest in building a similar one in the United States.

Using Lebanon as a bargaining chip through Washington’s Israeli proxy is Trump’s way of leveling the playing field.

History has never witnessed a leader quite like Donald Trump — a mix of ignorance, arrogance immorality, brazenness, insensitivity and sheer stupidity.

The challenge for Washington is no longer whether it possesses sufficient capabilities, but whether the political system can align those capabilities behind a coherent long-term priority.