stakes

A war in Iran that is beginning to cloud President Donald Trump’s legacy is also raising the political stakes for two of the most closely watched figures in his orbit: Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Both men, often cast as possible heirs to Donald Trump, have been drawn into the still-evolving push to bring thewar to an end just as Republicans are starting to think more seriously about what the party looks like after him. JD Vance has moved carefully, mirroring his long-running scepticism of…

“Maybe climate change is not so bad in such a cold country as ours?” Vladimir Putin mused two decades ago, speculating that a few degrees of warming might cut fur-coat bills and boost harvests. The line, tossed off in 2003, reads today like an early draft of the world’s newest geopolitical script: As the Arctic thaws, the map of power is being redrawn — and it now runs straight through Greenland. That is the backdrop to a rupture between the United States and parts of NATO and the European Union that Canadian Prime Minister…

In less than a fortnight, President Donald Trump’s push to annex Greenland has done what Moscow long struggled to achieve: drive a wedge between the United States and its European allies in NATO. As Europe recoiled, Russia watched—and encouraged—the rift, framing the controversy as proof that the post–Cold War transatlantic order is fracturing under its own contradictions. Moscow’s messaging has been blunt and opportunistic. Russian state media has amplified the notion that the alliance is wobbling, while Foreign Minister…

With Nicolas Maduro in U.S. custody after a pre-dawn raid and President Donald J. Trump touting a “Donroe Doctrine,” Washington has put a modern stamp on one of its oldest ideas: uncontested dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The operation in Venezuela, framed by the White House as a corrective to autocracy and a bid to unlock oil wealth, also signals an unapologetic return to sphere-of-influence politics—this time with China and Russia cast as the intruders to be pushed out. The White House’s case mixes moral clarity with…