The American empire appears to be in retreat. Humiliated by Russia in Eastern Europe, outmaneuvered by China in East Asia, and bogged down in a conflict with Iran in the Middle East, the United States has turned its gaze southward. Unable to win the great power competition across Eurasia, the Trump administration has increasingly embarked on the most aggressive militarization of Latin America policy in a generation, seeking victories in what Washington has long considered its backyard. The result has been what observers are calling the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, a framework that...

The United States can conjure trillions of dollars from thin air through the magic of the Federal Reserve's printing press. What it cannot conjure into existence are the missiles, interceptors, and precision munitions that modern warfare devours at a pace Washington never prepared for. The Iran conflict has laid bare a truth that defense analysts have warned about for years. America's military industrial base has atrophied into a hollow shell incapable of sustaining the imperial ambitions that politicians in both parties continue to pursue. Operation Epic Fury burned through roughly $3.7...

When American and Israeli warplanes struck Iran on February 28, 2026, launching what Washington dubbed Operation Epic Fury, most NATO allies fell into line. Spain did not. In the days that followed, the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez barred American forces from using the Rota and Morón de la Frontera air bases in southern Spain. Defense Minister Margarita Robles declared that Spain had provided "no assistance of any kind, absolutely none" from either base in connection with the Iran strikes, while Sánchez called the operation an "unjustified, dangerous military intervention that...

On the surface, everything between Vietnam and the United States looked better than it ever had. In September 2023, President Joe Biden and General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, elevating relations to their highest diplomatic tier. American officials toasted prosperity. Vietnamese leaders smiled for cameras. The messaging suggested a new chapter in a relationship once defined by napalm and body counts. Then, in early February 2026, a very different story emerged from behind the curtain. The 88 Project, a U.S.-based human rights organization focused...

When Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, 2025, voices suggested his administration might wind down the Ukraine conflict and pursue a foreign policy of restraint. The reality reveals something far different. Trump's outreach to Russia is not Pat Buchanan style non-interventionism. It is a calculated attempt to use Russia as a geopolitical weapon against China and Iran, rooted in the same manipulative great power politics that has poisoned American foreign policy for generations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio openly proposed at February 2025 Riyadh talks that the United...

In February 2026, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the United States of "not being ready to fulfill agreements" reached during alleged Trump-Putin talks in Alaska in August 2025. The accusation fits a pattern. During a July 2020 conference on the Open Skies Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS that Russia does not view the United States "as a partner who is able to negotiate." The charge that Washington cannot be relied upon to honor its commitments has become a recurring theme in Russian diplomacy and increasingly resonates beyond Moscow. Over the...

The United States finds itself in an unfamiliar position. After spending approximately one hundred and fifty THAAD interceptors and eighty SM-3 missiles to help defend Israel during the Twelve-Day War in June 2025, the Pentagon faces a stark reality. Its stockpiles are depleted, its production lines cannot keep pace, and another major conflict with Iran would require an air defense umbrella America can no longer fully provide. The question is not whether the United States wants to strike Iran again. The question is whether it can afford to. For now, the answer appears to be no. But history...