Mallen Baker: Faultlines

Israel has transformed the world geopolitical stage again by launching a direct and sustained assault on Iran. It wrongfooted President Trump by doing so in open defiance of his wishes, and it has pr…

A period of extreme stress has begun for many of the leaders of the free world. Beginning with the announcement from the US that it is throwing the Aukus partnership into the air to see if it lands '…

China and the US just wrapped up two days of trade talks in London. But the fascinating thing is what they are NOT saying about what was agreed. There's more to it than meets the eye, and there's a r…

The crisis in LA has deepened since we discussed it two days ago. President Trump doubled the number of National Guard, and added 700 US marines for good measure. He speculated about the merit of arr…

It's a great idea in theory - an impregnable missile defence shield to protect the country from any attack from its numerous enemies around the world. But for a variety of reasons, numerous experts, …

The use of the National Guard to quell violent protests / riots in LA obviously crosses a line, but it's only the start of a journey that was mapped out by the authors of Project 2025 before Trump wa…

A leaked FSB briefing document has been revealed - and it is fascinating for what it shows about Russia's REAL attitude to its supposed close ally China. These are two authoritarians side by side in …

Yes, Elon Musk vs Donald Trump - it's very entertaining. The memes are flowing in industrial quantities. But a lot of people are missing just how important a pivot point this is. In classic authorita…

We got a surprise today, when it was suddenly announced that China's President Xi Jinping and President Trump had spoken directly on the phone. And then it was the turn of Germany's Chancellor Friedr…

Everyone - even me - was saying that sooner or later a huge falling out between President Trump and Elon Musk would have to happen. Just when we thought that had been avoided, suddenly it's all kicki…

Trump's Canada ambassador Pete Hoekstra already got noticed by scolding Canadians for boycotting American products in their stores. Now, he's back to tell the country that Trump just tariffed at 50% …

Ukraine sat down for more direct talks with Russia today - and that managed not to remotely be the story. More important was Ukraine's dramatic strike on air bases deep into Russian territory, where …

We've heard about how tourists are either boycotting holiday travel to the US, or are just scared by stories of people being detained for days or weeks on the border. But now it seems that even busin…

Poland goes to the polls to elect its next president this weekend. And Trump's MAGA movement has been actively campaigning for the candidate it sees as most aligned with the Trumpian populist wave th…

Everything seems to have settled down with President Trump's America and China now that they'd climbed down from their maximalist tariff barrage. But Trump doesn't do quiet and settled, and so he exp…

President Trump has been having SO much fun, slapping tariffs on the EU, hitting China, randomly spraying charges on everybody including the penguins. But now it has been pointed out, not unreasonabl…

We all know that President Trump has taken the decision to end climate action previously being taken by the United States - that is very much his prerogative, albeit that it makes sense only if you c…

Having told the Middle East, that America wouldn't be telling the world 'how to live their lives', the Trump Administration is launching a very active campaign against democratic guardrails in Europe…

Fiona Hill was President Trump's Russia advisor in his first term - back when he had advisors who actually knew their subject. In an interview today with the Telegraph, she talked about the moment wh…

A remarkable feature of the 2024 presidential election was just how much Gen Z voters swung towards Trump, particularly young men. There's a popular narrative as to why that happened, which right now…