The Carving Up: The Post-WWII World Order Is Over
How the oligarchs, the theocrats and the dictators are dividing up our treasure and labor.
Aged Too Well
At the end of 2024, I wrote an article about an alliance emerging between three ideologies: Aleksandr Dugin’s Eurasianist imperialism; the desire of the PayPal Mafia (represented by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel) for total control; and the extreme religious right that has taken on the mantle of “anti-communism”—and taken control of the Supreme Court.
The ultimate goal of this alliance was—and is—to destroy global liberal democracy as a viable form of government. The parties to this informal agreement have different reasons for their shared project, but they share a central desire—to remove the U.S. federal government as an impediment to their different plans for conquest.
The intended effect of this alliance is to end the global world order established after WWII and divide up the spoils among themselves.
In this agreement, Putin would be left to invade Europe. Xi would be left to take Taiwan. And the Western Hemisphere would go to the Trump regime—which would divide up the spoils with the oligarchy and the theocrats.
It Begins, Again
Last night in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump made a surprise trip to Joe’s Stone Crab for dinner—and invited the press to come along. He was met there by protesters from Code Pink, which has a recent history of pro-Russian views. Trump brought along Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State-National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Article What?
Simultaneously, multiple Russian drones violated Polish airspace; Poland shot several down with NATO support and invoked Article 4 consultations. This is the first time a NATO member has fired during Russia’s war. Poland called it the closest to open conflict since WWII.
In spite of this dangerous provocation by Vladimir Putin, the Trump regime has retained a decidedly different focus. Hegseth made an appearance on Fox this morning, a full twelve hours after sitting down for seafood with Trump. His blustered response is equally as telling as it is alarming.
Asked about the murder of 11 people on a small speedboat in international waters 2,700 miles from the United States, Hegseth said:
We're going to put America first. In this case, the Americas first are hemisphere, secure homeland, but we're not going to sit back and watch the American people be threatened. We're not going to sit back and watch the American people be poisoned. Watch people be trafficked. Violent gangs exist inside our country. That's why you're seeing mass deportations. That's why you're seeing criminality being locked down. That's why our borders locked down. This is an extension of that. This is an understanding of exactly how America should project power. We've projected power for a long time and far-flung places that had a nebulous connection to our own security in the homeland. We're securing the homeland.
Hegseth’s statement acts as an official extension of “America First” policies to the entire Western Hemisphere. It is like the Monroe Doctrine in reverse. Here is what James Monroe said during his seventh State of the Union Address, Dec. 2, 1823:
“The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.”
““In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do.”
Trump’s regime is echoing Monroe’s doctrine, but instead of proclaiming it as a defensive policy against a colonial Europe, it is explicitly expansionist—“our hemisphere, our homeland”—and isolationist: no more “far flung places with nebulous connections… to the homeland.” Instead, the newly-named Secretary of War is involving himself in domestic policies like “violent gangs” and “mass deportations.”
Strategic Ambiguity
Donald Trump’s affliction of deferring to the Russians and Vladimir Putin has lasted for decades, but since starting his second term, he has perfected appeasing Putin to a science. The President of the United States waited 15 hours before posting a horrifyingly casual response to a deliberate escalation by Putin that brings WWIII one step closer.
“Here we go!” could be read as a sarcastic “here we go again” or the observation of a completely uninvolved bystander watching a hockey fight. And as usual, it manages to avoid even the appearance of anger with Vladimir Putin. It is applied weakness, the deliberate injection of strategic ambiguity into the viability of NATO, the security of Europe, and the status of America as a superpower.
Pre-Planning for Putin
To evaluate how seismic this shift is in America’s policy, and how much the regime already knows about Putin’s goals, let’s review a few of the moves the regime has made in only the last few weeks.
Security programs for Europe cut/paused: DoD notified allies it will zero out Section 333 train-and-equip funds for Europe next FY.
The Baltic Security Initiative (BSI) is suspended/under review; Congressional backlash was immediate.
Foreign aid freeze: The administration asked SCOTUS to let it withhold $4B in congressionally appropriated foreign aid. Chief Justice Roberts granted an administrative stay, enabling the freeze for now.
Trade squeeze on Europe: The U.S.–EU deal establishes a broad 15% tariff ceiling on EU goods into the U.S. with EU tariff concessions to avoid a trade war.
“Europe pays, America sells” mechanism for Ukraine: Washington’s new model: sell U.S. weapons to European allies who then transfer systems to Ukraine—keeping U.S. support indirect and transactional.
Put together, this is the United States retreating before Putin’s escalation in both Ukraine—where his inhuman bombing campaign on civilians has worsened—and now with a deliberate attempt to create a crack in NATO through Poland and the Baltic States.
In March, a nine-page Department of Defense memo influenced by the Heritage Foundation wrote that the “sole pacing threat” driving the U.S. strategy is China and identified America’s sphere of influence as the entire Western Hemisphere.
U.S. forces … must be “ready to defend American interests wherever they might be threatened in our hemisphere, from Greenland, to the Panama Canal, to Cape Horn.”
However, last week it was reported that the Pentagon has a new draft of its National Defense Strategy which takes China away as the “sole pacing threat” and turns the lens entirely inward:
A draft of the newest National Defense Strategy, which landed on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desk last week, places domestic and regional missions above countering adversaries such as Beijing and Moscow, according to three people briefed on early versions of the report.
This is as clear an abdication of America’s 75-year-long role in the world as can be imagined without actually going to war with our own allies. The entire foundation of the post-WWII world order—the United States of America’s iron alliance with NATO and Europe to defend against aggression from the east has been abandoned.
Collapsing Man; Collapsing Government
As I have extensively reported, Donald Trump is undergoing severe psychological, and apparent physical, stress. He is a textbook case of a man drowning in his own ego injury and trying to repair it by reengineering the world around him. This has now extended to the global order which he is reimagining with himself as the center—with the help of the Russians, the theocrats, and the oligarchs. Whatever resistance Trump may have had to the worst plans of the people he brought around him has been erased by his own need to feel dominant and loved.
In the wake of Epstein, Trump desperately called for a meeting in Alaska to try to solve Russia’s war on Ukraine, and win a Nobel Peace Prize. While we still don’t know what happened—especially in the 20-minute car ride—we know there were shocked expressions and an extremely abbreviated set of discussions.
As a thought experiment, what if Putin had told Trump, for example, that not only did he never intend to stop invading Ukraine, but that he intended to expand Russia to an empire extending to at least Berlin? What if, in exchange, Putin would not object to an American Empire from “Greenland to Cape Horn”? How would the moves since Alaska have played out any differently?
After Alaska, Trump deployed a fleet and thousands of troops to Venezuela.
Several weeks ago, Trump sent a team of people to run a gray-zone influence operation on Greenland’s soil in an effort to build a movement and destabilize the government.
On arrival near Venezuela, the Department of War distributed a snuff film of 11 people being blown up by a missile on the high seas and celebrated it as a victory and a new era of American military dominance.
Trump took over DC using an overwhelming show of federal and military force against the wishes of the mayor.
Trump announced he’s going to war with Chicago through a meme and included the “Department of War” with a quote from Apocalypse Now.
The Big Split
For Donald Trump and his allies, centuries of blood spilled by American patriots, treasure built by the people’s labor, and the democracy we’ve all come to take for granted, are just resources to loot—or memories to burn. The big prize of two continents to pillage—North and South America—is just out of their grasp; they intend to seize it.
Ukraine is the enemy because it is the soul of democracy in Europe, a nation so dedicated to its own liberty that for three-and-a-half years, it has fought to a standstill a belligerent neighbor 20 times its size—a neighbor with no conscience, no morals, and no limits. This is why Putin sees it as a crucial stepping stone in his bid for Eurasian dominance—and why he’s perfectly willing to make a very big quid pro quo to get it.
Whether the damage is doomed to be permanent is arguable, but the fall of the post-WWII order—and of America’s democratic illusions—is not. We are a failed state that has, in just eight months, destabilized the entire planet and turned itself into a kleptocratic kakistocracy with delusions of grandeur.
It is a tragedy watching the world I grew up with die in a fire of greed, narcissism, and white grievance. Nevertheless, it is a tragedy of our own making—and when, not if, we emerge, I am certain the lessons will not be forgotten.
Long live a free America. Glory to Ukraine.
If you are able to help me continue my work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. It really means a lot. Thank you!
Here are a few benefits to upgrading:
Live Zoom call each Sunday
Ability to comment and access all content
Wonderful, supportive community
Helping independent journalism fill in the gaps for our failing media
Thank you for reading and sharing my work. Grateful for your support.
If you’d like to help me with expenses, here is my DonorBox. 💙
If you’d like to help with my legal fees: stopmikeflynn.com.
My podcast is @radicalizedpod & YouTube — Livestream is Thursdays at 4PM PT.
Bluesky 🦋: jim-stewartson
Threads: jimstewartson
I would not be surprised if the plan is to cede Europe to Putin, Asia to Xi, and the Americas/Greenland to Trump, et.al. It's like a real life game of Risk with genuine blood and death tolls.
I also wouldn't be surprised to see WW III come of this either.
You are a true patriot, Jim. When we emerge, the lessons learned will not be forgotten. That gives me hope. Fortitude is required during these difficult and shocking times. You model that quality brilliantly. Thank you.