Applebaum links the Canada trade war to a collapsing world order

The brief

Anne Applebaum argues that escalating U.S.-Canada tariffs are not an isolated dispute: they reveal the breakdown of an international order built around cooperation and mutual benefit.

The discussion widens to Europe, where Russian aggression and weakening transatlantic trust sharpen security fears while U.S. support for far-right forces complicates the alliance.

Tarlov and Applebaum examine pressure on Iran, Israel’s growing regional isolation, and the uncertainty surrounding negotiations and conventional approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Restrictions on military journalism, including the firing of Stars and Stripes journalists, raise a basic democratic problem: how can the public judge wars it cannot see?

Ukraine’s corruption investigations are presented as evidence of functioning democratic institutions, while its drone-heavy battlefield experience offers lessons the United States may need urgently.

The closing argument is global: people abroad follow American politics closely because decisions made in Washington shape security and political life far beyond the United States.