Today's Edition
By: ABRAR MOHAMED ALALI*
The world is currently witnessing a series of developments that point toward a forceful reshaping of the international order, driven by the actions and priorities of the dominant global power. This transformation rests on expanding strategic spheres of influence, retreating from the previous era of globalisation, and portraying globalisation itself as a cause of China’s rise and as a failed project that, from President Donald Trump’s perspective, delivered neither global security nor peace despite imposing heavy costs on American citizens. In its place, Trump’s approach sharply reduces US commitments to allies while concentrating and accumulating American power as the preferred instrument for securing national interests, particularly in the Western Hemisphere.
Venezuela has emerged as a pivotal arena in this hemispheric strategy. Long at odds with Washington, closely aligned with Russia, China and Iran, and endowed with vast oil reserves, Caracas represents more than the fall of an unfriendly regime.
The US move to remove Nicolás Maduro signals broader strategic and energy calculations and appears to have served as a testing ground for new methods of exercising power and projecting influence. Under Trump’s leadership, Washington has shown a willingness to apply similar logic elsewhere, including openly declared ambitions regarding Greenland. Should such objectives be pursued through coercive rather than political or economic means, it would mark a profound shift in the architecture of strategic alliances, making clear that even traditional partners are not insulated from the consequences of Trumpist policies when interests diverge.
At the heart of this approach lies the “America First” doctrine, which compels both allies and rivals to make concessions in pursuit of deals that maximise US gains, with little regard to long-standing alliances or established strategic relationships. Trumpism operates with narrow margins for compromise, grounded in the belief that America’s position at the top of the global hierarchy is determined not by alliance networks or balance-of-power calculations, but by the direct projection of US strength.
If this logic continues to expand internationally, smaller and middle powers will find themselves increasingly exposed in an order governed less by rules than by raw power. Trade disputes have already become one of the primary tools reshaping the global environment, as states compete aggressively to escape economic risk and systemic instability. While Trumpism does not abandon soft power entirely, it places overwhelming emphasis on military and economic leverage, treating soft power as useful but insufficient for maintaining American primacy.
In this framework, diplomacy is merely the opening move. If counterparts fail to accept Washington’s terms, military engagement or economic warfare remains a viable option.
Multilateralism and international partnership appear to be fading concepts, reflected in the United States’ withdrawal from dozens of international organisations and its retreat from global agreements on climate and other issues that require collective action.
In Venezuela, Trumpism achieved its objectives with minimal cost, if one sets aside questions of sovereignty, international law, and the global norms the international community claims to uphold. This precedent risks establishing a new standard where power alone defines legitimacy, ushering in an era that departs sharply from the liberal international order and replaces it with a system whose core principle is force.
In his second term, Trump faces fewer electoral constraints and appears determined to reshape the global order not through isolation, but by imposing non-negotiable rules designed to safeguard American interests amid global turbulence, geopolitical and economic rivalries and widespread uncertainty.
Development setbacks, open wars, natural disasters and unresolved crises form the backdrop against which Trumpism is advancing its vision.
The international order has not imposed change upon the United States; rather, Washington itself is redefining the rules from the top of the global hierarchy. In a world increasingly governed by deterrence and power projection, US influence over its strategic neighbourhood is expanding, and it remains unclear how far this logic may extend, whether toward Greenland, Canada, or beyond.
*Researcher and opinion poll specialist at TRENDS Research and Advisory
