'The West', despite its name, was an ideological alliance of shared values and belief in liberal democracy, rather than an alliance based on geography. But, things are changing. Geographical spheres of influence are back. Power, economics, and resources, rather than ideology, are shaping the world order. As the White House's December 2025 National Security Strategy makes clear, commitment by the US to other liberal democracies has largely evaporated. From Greenland and Canada to Mexico and Venezuela, the US aims to extend its control across the American continent. Elsewhere, it plans trading partnerships with Russia and China, and intervenes otherwise, as in Iran, only when it's defending its economic interests. In Trump's worldview, there are no permanent enemies or permanent allies.  

Are we witnessing the end of ideology and the return of geography as the shape of the new world order? Might the last century or so be a blip in a human history that otherwise has been dominated by geographical control and resources? And are we seeing a terrifying retreat into brute force, and does the US's escalation in Iran only go to prove that further?  

 
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