NATO, Trump, and the Collapse of “Rules-Based Order”
Joshua Scheer and Jeffrey Sachs / ScheerPost

For decades, the U.S. has engaged in imperialistic invasions, bombings, regime change operations, and provocations worldwide, accusing its enemies of the very crimes it engages in itself.  EU leaders went along with that, e.g., in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, and Cuba.  But now — surprise! surprise! — the US imperialistic tiger is turning on the EU, e.g., in Greenland.  [Also, the EU is the victim of mass migration caused by U.S. wars in the Middle East, and from economic problems caused by the CIA-engineered war in Ukraine and its sanctions.]

Quoting the summary of Europe Rides the Tiger: Jeffrey Sachs on NATO, Trump, and the Collapse of the “Rules‑Based Order” by Joshua Scheer:

(January 25, 2026) — In a sweeping and unsparing conversation with Glenn Diesen, economist and longtime geopolitical analyst Jeffrey Sachs dissects the accelerating rupture between Europe and the United States — a crisis triggered not by Russia or China, but by Washington’s own imperial overreach.

Speaking with Glenn, Sachs argues that Europe is finally confronting the consequences of “riding on the back of a predator,” a metaphor he borrows from President Kennedy’s 1961 warning that those who try to ride the tiger often end up inside it.

A Crisis Europe Helped Create

Sachs traces Europe’s current panic — triggered by Trump’s threats toward Greenland and open hostility toward NATO — to decades of European complicity in U.S. militarism. For years, he argues, European leaders “said not a word” as Washington toppled governments, invaded sovereign states, and shredded international law from Iraq to Libya to Syria. [And, yes, Ukraine, as Sachs discusses in the video: the CIA played a large role in the 2014 Maidan coup.]

One of Sachs’ most pointed observations captures the hypocrisy now on display:
“When the United States said, ‘We want Greenland,’ suddenly Europe rediscovered international law.”

The same governments that lectured Iran about “restraint” after being bombed, or applauded the kidnapping of Venezuela’s president, now find themselves shocked that the empire they enabled is turning its gaze toward them.

The End of the ‘Rules‑Based Order’

One of the most striking developments Sachs highlights is Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s admission in Davos that the so‑called “rules‑based international order” was never neutral — it was a Western privilege system. With the world shifting toward multipolarity, even U.S. allies are reassessing their dependence on Washington.

Carney’s outreach to China, Sachs notes, signals a geopolitical realignment that Europe has been too timid — or too captured — to attempt.