Mallen Baker: Faultlines

Just when it seemed that things might be stabilising just a bit, Trump posted onto social media and suddenly we're right back into the throes of new trade chaos. A 50% tariff against the European Uni…

Books have been landing in recent weeks opening up windows into the behind-the-scenes action around the cognitive decline of US president Joe Biden, and how the messy events of his nomination, and th…

So we had another White House Struggle Session this week, this time with Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa. President Trump's ambush, watched silently by Elon Musk, unloaded a stream of …

We've known Elon Musk was on his way out for several weeks, but yesterday he added the final straw - he said he was going to cut any political spending right down. This is the final end of his politi…

US President Trump and Russian President Putin held their direct call - the one that was supposed to see Trump pushing Putin into embracing a 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war. The outcome seemed n…

The UK and the EU announced a big post-Brexit trade deal today. For some, it was a common sense shift from the original terms of the Brexit deal to make trade a little easier, and to facilitate much …

Bridget Brink was the US Ambassador to Ukraine during the three years post-invasion where the United States was standing relatively firm alongside its allies. Supporting the invaded party, opposing t…

So Trump's attempted interference in Canada backfired, and the Liberals' Mark Carney won the recent election. The question is - now what? Can Canada negotiate down those tariffs and establish a relat…

Every relevant senior member of the Trump cabinet has come out with an attack on former FBI Director James Comey - a truly astonishing exercise in gaslighting to swear that something nobody had previ…

President Trump has had perhaps his best week so far of his second term, being hosted by some of the richest countries of the world. He has also been making jaws drop with bold moves, particularly in…

It used to be that the United States, as the dominant world power, was the most powerful driving force behind world events, for better or for worse. It made mistakes sometimes, but it was a player. N…

We've been taking it as read that Trump's MAGA base would stay unquestioningly loyal to him no matter what. But that support is starting to splinter. One half are noticing the blatant corruption, and…

Yes, yes, we all know Trump lies - so what? Well, the point is that since the US is now bullying the entire world on trade, as well as using its leverage over various countries in other ways - this h…

Trump only just completed his first hundred days, so it's a bit early to be thinking about it all ending, right? Except, by all reports, Trump is already obsessed about the looming midterm elections.…

Having created a major impasse between the US and China with mutual tariff obliteration, Trump has been trying to work out how the US can extract itself from at least some of the self-inflicted harm.…

Trump may have (reluctantly) accepted that Canada is not going to fall into his embrace, but he is going full speed ahead in his quest to get Greenland. This was evident when he sent JD Vance to visi…

On Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day', a number of countries suddenly discovered that they were to be whacked with massive tariffs from the United States - including some of the poorest countries in …

Whether in his stated terms, the policy changes he aims to make, or in the Project 2025 actions he's taking to bring in an autocratic system to the US, there are a number of reasons why President Tru…

In elections in Canada and Australia, we saw figures who had been even lightly associated with Donald Trump's MAGA movement losing, whereas before Trump had returned to office, they had been leading.…

How do we know if the economy is doing well? There are reliable statistics for that. How do we know what's happening with the climate? There is reliable data for that. How do we know what are the wor…