For all its waning power and apparent internal fractures, the Western imperial bloc remains remarkably united; meanwhile, the Global Majority continues to lack a comparable strategic coherence
Europeans like being slaves. Just like a dog may want more treats and to be allowed on the couch, but they don't actually want to be Master, europeans are happiest when someone tells them what to do.
Sharp. The declining hegemon doesn't need to win — it only needs to prevent the alternative from consolidating. Permanent destabilisation is cheaper than dominance.
Give credit where credit is due — Trump stumbled into this strategy rather than designed it, but the result is the same.
The BRICS strategic incoherence point is the sharpest part. China's passivity is the most consequential variable — they may not have fully internalised their own leverage yet.
Though the other side of the ledger is real too: Ukraine has shown the limits of NATO power, Iran the limits of American power. The Western bloc is unified but increasingly exposed.
This is all very well reasoned I think but I don't think the USA can meaningfully destabilise the emerging new international system without destroying itself in the process, the American economy is a time bomb and the imperial apparatus that sustains it is crumbling
Europeans like being slaves. Just like a dog may want more treats and to be allowed on the couch, but they don't actually want to be Master, europeans are happiest when someone tells them what to do.
https://providencemag.com/2026/05/trump-and-the-domesticated-european-elites/
"A slave dreams not of freedom, but of his own slaves."
-Cicero
"What most men mean when they say that they want "liberty" is that they want kinder masters." - Sallust
Sharp. The declining hegemon doesn't need to win — it only needs to prevent the alternative from consolidating. Permanent destabilisation is cheaper than dominance.
Give credit where credit is due — Trump stumbled into this strategy rather than designed it, but the result is the same.
The BRICS strategic incoherence point is the sharpest part. China's passivity is the most consequential variable — they may not have fully internalised their own leverage yet.
Though the other side of the ledger is real too: Ukraine has shown the limits of NATO power, Iran the limits of American power. The Western bloc is unified but increasingly exposed.
Thank you Thomas for your reflections, although really depressing as they are.
This is all very well reasoned I think but I don't think the USA can meaningfully destabilise the emerging new international system without destroying itself in the process, the American economy is a time bomb and the imperial apparatus that sustains it is crumbling
"Controlled Chaos" is what Imperialist Security State does.
In Chaos, a country’s resources are free for grabs and anglo-murican imperialist hegemony is secured.
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youtube.com/shorts/i790DajfHN8