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8:27 pm, December 12th, 2025 - 25 comments
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“The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.” White House National Security Strategy, 2025
The greatest shift in US foreign policy since World War II, a “sea change”, a manifesto for a radically different America, “a disturbing document”. International foreign policy analysts are still reeling from the release in early December of the White House’s National Security Strategy (NSS).
The document is a statement of intent, a promissory note, as to how the US state will conduct itself in the world. It also is about how America sees itself in the world. At its heart it is a piece of storytelling – and this article is about the subtext to these stories and how they can kill.
Firstly, the White House National Security Statement is the moment when the US formally declared its unipolar moment – its time bestriding the world like a Colossus – is over.
“Our elites badly miscalculated America’s willingness to shoulder forever global burdens to which the American people saw no connection to the national interest,” the Strategy says. “They overestimated America’s ability to fund, simultaneously, a massive welfare- regulatory-administrative state alongside a massive military, diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign aid complex.”
This surprising realism is a big deal for everyone. The Strategy is in part a cold-eyed assessment of the US’s changed status in the world, in part a myth about the US itself, in part a racist manifesto implicitly warning of a Great Replacement of white Christian culture, in part a rejection of the post-WWII liberal international order, and as such, is a shot across the bow of, well, all of us.
“American strategies since the end of the Cold War have fallen short – they have been laundry lists of wishes or desired end states; have not clearly defined what we want but instead stated vague platitudes; and have often misjudged what we should want,” the Strategy declares, face-slapping the last several US administrations. That’s over, and the Strategy pegs out the frame for “ushering in a new golden age” (note the utopian language) as the US acts resolutely in its own interest. The broad vision includes what the strategy describes as: a predisposition to non-interventionism, pro-American workers, the end of the era of mass migration, securing access to critical supply chains and materials, reindustrialization, reviving the defense industrial base and energy dominance. Importantly, a revitalised Monroe Doctrine will see the US assert command and control over the entire Western hemisphere. In diplomacy the focus will be on commerce not aid or nation-building.
Let’s start with the myth. I think the reference in the Strategy to Atlas – “The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over” – is not just a metaphor. Ayn Rand, drawing on the Greek myth of Atlas, the Titan god who was condemned to hold up the Earth, wrote Atlas Shrugged in 1957. It remains a sacred text for many on the right of American politics. Elon Musk is on record as saying “We’re in this weird Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged scenario” because of how “builders” like him are being treated.
Atlas Shrugged describes a world that is in decline because it has slowly constricted its best and its brightest – you know, the Elon Musks, Peter Thiels, Mark Zuckerbergs, Sam Altmans of the world – to serve the ungrateful masses. The White House’s NSS sees the US as being exploited in the same manner by, amongst others, effete European elites.
In Atlas Shrugged the giants of commerce and rugged individualism, personified by railroad executive Dagny Taggart and steel magnate Hank Rearden, are sick of “parasites and freeloaders” (that’s us) who feed off them. What, the novel asks, would happen if these Übermenschen were to shrug – effectively to go on strike – to refuse to continue shouldering the burden of supporting an ungrateful humanity? In Rand’s fantasy, they withdraw their genius, they escape to a hidden valley, resulting in the collapse of civilization! Come back from Mars, Elon, all is forgiven! No wonder Trump, Peter Thiel and a swag of Silicon Valley CEOs claim to be inspired by Ayn Rand.
In the Trumpian myth, Atlas America has made enormous sacrifices that its allies have exploited. “They’ve been ripping us off!” he said. Victims of US imperialism would, of course, shun this myth which has rich variants, such as “the world’s policeman”, “the indispensable nation” and so on. But let’s look at what Trump describes as ‘decaying’ European countries and ‘weak’ leaders. (In my next article I’ll look at the Strategy’s reappraisal of the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas).
We know that Trump, in particular, and US State officials, in general, have a contempt for a Europe that is seen as depending utterly on the US for security but unappreciative of what Uncle Sam has done for them. In Trumpspeak, the European Union was “formed to screw the United States.”
“The Continent now stands at a crossroads” the New York Times solemnly declared after the Strategy was released. To the horror of European elites, the White House says it is determined to end the war in Ukraine and achieve a stable equilibrium with Russia:
“It is a core interest of the United States to negotiate an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, in order to stabilize European economies, prevent unintended escalation or expansion of the war, and reestablish strategic stability with Russia, as well as to enable the post-hostilities reconstruction of Ukraine to enable its survival as a viable state.”
If followed through, NATO expansion is off the table, eliminating a casus belli of the Ukraine war.
The document contains uncomfortable insights the Americans deliver to the EU:
“The Ukraine War has had the perverse effect of increasing Europe’s, especially Germany’s, external dependencies. Today, German chemical companies are building some of the world’s largest processing plants in China, using Russian gas that they cannot obtain at home.” (Remind me: who blew up Nord Stream?)
Here, according to the Strategy, is where Europe’s elites are wrecking the Continent:
“The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Over the long term, it is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European.”
This is hardly-disguised code for The Great Replacement Theory, defined as a “white supremacist, xenophobic, and anti-immigrant concept that posits white people are being replaced by immigrants, Muslims, and other people of color in their so-called “home” countries.” Once a fringe theory, it now sits on the Resolute Desk in the White House in the form of the NSS.
The US, however, doesn’t want European civilization to collapse: the Strategy offers the leaders of Europe a stern corrective: abandon wokeness, immigration madness and social democracy and reignite your cultures.
“We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.”
“Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize: reestablishing conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia; cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.” That’s not code: that’s a bald warning that the US is going to meddle in the internal politics of European countries. As an example: a powerful delegation from the German AfD party was welcomed in Washington this week.
We should all pray to whatever gods may be that America, with the awesome power and woeful attention deficit of a Titan god with ADHD, finds a more peaceful way to express what is left of its exceptionalism. The Strategy points to the road to be taken but intent is one thing, execution is another. Obama promised a pivot to Asia and failed miserably. Ursula von der Leyen promised a trillion Euro European Green Deal and has since spent a measly few million Euros before effectively abandoning that project and going instead for Military Keynesianism, trying to reverse Europe’s economic doom loop by turning Europe into a “steel porcupine”.
Thanks to what the Strategy makes clear, we now know for certain going forward what we should have known for certain all along: America is not our friend.
I’ll give the last word to Ayn Rand – the final words of Atlas Shrugged:
“The road is cleared,” said Galt. “We are going back to the world.”
He raised his hand and over the desolate earth he traced in space the sign of a dollar.
We should all pray to whatever gods may be
Such moralising compulsion usually doesn't work, but I do like that postmodern stance. The deity Market Forces is still flat on his back, so waste of time praying to him. I asked Google and it suggested
Since the Moon is currently in the tail end of Virgo, the correlation is a sign for those into magical thinking. Since the UN doesn't do moral order and just law, and neither does the USA, could be the cosmos is giving us a nudge about the lack. The tariff war is no longer in the headlines, but free trade seems to have passed its use-by date. Voters also put Trump in to enable the armaments industry to suck more money out of taxpayers. Thumbs up for democracy as usual, eh?
Gosh, after so many politicians have been in the media saying that it is for so many years, this will come as a shock to many. Particularly leftist political leaders – but if you have evidence that any have gone public declaring your opinion, do post it here to prove me wrong. That would be refreshing.
I recommend the following episode from "The Rest is Politics" podcast series with Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart:
A deeply disturbing analysis of the National Security Strategy 2025. It has the potential to make WW2 seem like a walk in the park.
Starts 1:50 mins. after a spot of advertising.
^^
.
Sergey Karaganov, political scientist, historian, and long-time advisor to Russia's political elites:
@RussiaDirect_
Karaganov: We’re at war with Europe, not Ukraine — and the war won’t end until Europe is defeated.
Source: https://t.me/skabeeva/39268
https://xcancel.com/RussiaDirect_/status/1997853272422732127
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Karaganov
Well, theres seems to be agreement about that
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/lord-west-warns-uk-effectively-at-war-with-russia/
https://www.aalep.eu/yes-we-are-war-russia
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ex-mi5-chief-says-uk-35983320
And that was back in 2022
https://news.wttw.com/2022/05/10/former-us-defense-secretary-hagel-expects-further-escalation-war-ukraine
Annalaena Baerbock foreign minister of the EU when she said it in 2023
"We are fighting a war against Russia, not against each other", which was critically portrayed in the popular tabloid newspaper Bild with the headline "We are at war with Russia".[67]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annalena_Baerbock
I really don't think there's much surprise
A tepid war? Or cool rather than cold? With potential to warm up if anyone becomes hysterical. Vlad the Bad may be complacent in his mutual deployment of greater fool theory with Trump, but do young male Russians really want to be cannon-fodder forever?? I suspect not. State agents monitoring social media trends are likely to be kept busy, but nationwide addiction to vodka will be an operational constraint for any motivated subversives trying to organise each other…
Nation-wide addiction to vodka?
Typically Dennis , your reliance on worn out and inaccurate stereotypes lets you down
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/03/russias-alcohol-production-plummets-amid-tax-hikes-and-anti-drinking-measures/
And the Kyiv Independents view on the willingness of young Russian soldiers
https://kyivindependent.com/russia-has-not-declared-mobilization-what-drives-its-soldiers-to-war/?action=signup&success=true/
Hmm, reduction of output by a quarter seems to indicate a return to sobriety to that extent: "Hey, we're only 75% clueless! We're on track to get our act together if we maintain this self-discipline!" New-agers everywhere will get so excited about this, even if the Russians aren't using affirmations.
If you can read the Kyiv Independent view past the robot, do please report any evidence that it is more than wishful thinking…
Yes , a drop of 25% within a year is significant, the trend is set to continue…seems like the "addiction" has a cure.
Surprised you encountered a robot
Cool, thanks. That's how mercenary private armies took off in Europe centuries back when state control was dodgy!
Well of course thats the Ukrainian take ,I don't think you would expect the Kyiv Independent to be impartial surely ?!They have a war to fight , and they're exceptionally good at informational warfare
From the Russian point of view they choose to fight, like any soldier for multiple reasons , and they get well paid
Just for a reference check (and because I like pissing fran off)…
RUB 40000 is currently around NZD 860. Slightly more than my fortnightly pension at my current tax rate. It doesn’t have much purchasing power even in the backwoods of the Russian empire.
Also what would be of more interest of rate of increase in their monthly pay. The current monthly inflation rate is still running at above 6% per month. It is currently the lowest it has been since 2023…. It was 10.3% in March.
Not that the Russian army is all that good at actually paying the monthly pay. Or the signup bonuses or the death or injury bonuses. That has been a problem with contract since Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022.
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-soldiers-salaries-unpaid-ukraine-invasion/32345161.html
https://www.euronews.com/2025/12/02/russia-cuts-troop-bonuses-and-delays-death-benefits-amid-budget-shortfalls
This is likely to one of the reasons why the Russian milbloggers are increasingly being targeted by the Russian state. The other is that they have also been highlighting the rat-shit equipment and training.
https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/11/17/russias-militant-bloggers-are-clashing-with-their-own-regime
Soldiers do fight for things other than money, and military wages are usually piss-poor because the soldiers logistics are largely provided by the army and purchasing outlets are limited in war zones. Which is why soldiers with families usually send most of the pay to their families back home to they don’t starve.
But either as contract soldiers (aka mercenaries as Dennis pointed out) or as conscripts shortchanging soldiers is a incredibly stupid thing to do. You only have to look the history of Russia revolutions in 1917 or earlier collapses of the Austro-Hungarian armies in the previous year.
Not to mention what Dennis probably was referring to – the Italian wars in 16th century or the Landsknechte in the late 15th and 16th century in the chaos of the Holy Roman Empire. When unpaid the agreed amount they were pretty prone to collecting whatever way they could, often fomenting local rebellions. See Sack of Rome in 1527
All good Lp, you don’t piss me off, I rather enjoy you getting into a lather.
As to whether the contracts are lucrative or not , I think the Ukrainians would have a better notion than you
https://kyivindependent.com/russia-exceeds-monthly-recruitment-targets-by-over-100-ukraines-hur-says/
You'll notice that your link says absolutely nothing about the suckers taking those packages either receiving them or being satisfied by them.
Kyiv Independent is one of my daily reads (I even think that they are good enough to subscribe to), so cherry picking out-of-context quotes from it – well it is simply amusing for its naivety.
Have you looked at the ongoing series that they have been running with interviews of POWs of the Russian Federation, how they 'volunteered', the actual payments they received, the broken promises of recruiters, and why they took opportunities to surrender as soon as possible after being pushed into at the front as cannon fodder. Especially those from outside the Russian Federation.
Doing body counting by recruiters lying to them isn't exactly the best way to create good and effective soldiers. Hard to find a country that still does it after world war one excesses and extremely stupid generals.
But the Russian Federation seems to be be good at being the kind of mindless barbarians that still try to body count their way to victory – even more so because it is their own troops that they are counting.
As I think I've mentioned before , Ukrainians are exceedingly good at informational warfare.You think they don't engage in this?
When their whole functioning now is reliant on foreign inputs of finance, weaponry, intelligence gathering ?And for that to continue they need to claim that they are winning, any time now the Russians will run out of money, weapons, Putin is about to be overthrown ,just another set of sanctions will finish them off , the soldiers are on the point of rebelling,etc etc.Oh the naivety !!!
But you've seen them on video! real live Russian soldiers !
POWs are used on both sides to make claims.And you believe these claims!!
Again, surely we are not so gullible as to believe outright propaganda on both sides
I do think the Kyiv Independent for the most part is pretty impressive in their willingness to challenge Zelensky and his corruption, they're more realistic about the way the war is going, and they are rather refreshing in their take on Navalny, no hero to Ukrainians
https://kyivindependent.com/yulia-navalnayas-imperialist-views-spark-ukrainian-student-opposition-to-edinburgh-international-book-festival-appearance/
Yes, a journalist can report what a POW is saying..under duress…but for the reader to imbibe that without a huge grain of salt..
European governments and the EU figured out this US sentiment a fair while ago. Just good to have it in writing.
The EU countries fully recognise that they will increasingly be on their own and that the US is a competitor. It's been a good 90-year ride. EU countries are collectively stronger than the US thinks.
Looking forward to a full blockade of Kaliningrad by Lithuania and Poland.
Also looking forward to Denmark tearing up the Greenland defence treaty and expelling the US military base there.
Europe is muscling up. Both against the USA, and against China.
And the EU will come out of the end of the Russia-Ukraine war in a very powerful and motivated position.
EU will come out of the end of the Russia-Ukraine war in a very powerful and motivated position.
Feasible. If a faith-based prediction, I share that faith. Eurocrats getting real is something I will only believe if I see it tho.
Yes, might pay to try and get Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria in line and there may be further fractures with Belgium remaining sceptical, citing financial and legal risks with the suggested pilfering of frozen Russian assets in Euroclear
You shouldn’t suck down RT koolaid without doing some reading. That appears to mostly be the position of Euroclear, a Belguim based private company.
The Belgium government position was that that they wanted fiscal guarantees from other EU nations if they were sued and lost at a govermental level from claims by Russia. Which (reading between the lines) it appears that they just got.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/12/eu-to-freeze-210bn-in-russian-assets-indefinitely
So it looks like the EU agreement for a longer-term run around the threat of Hungary et el wanting to get top ups on EU benefits for their agreement has been bypassed on EU sanctions against Russia over their invasion of Ukraine.
They're going on Article 122 of the EU treaty which is a bit of a stretch, and which De Wever is still sceptical about
https://www.belganewsagency.eu/de-wever-does-not-rule-out-legal-action-if-eu-bypasses-belgium-over-frozen-russian-assets
Save your insults until the 18th , when the matter will be decided , and in the meantime watch where Italy stands
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-italy-joins-belgium-opposing-russia-frozen-assets-plan/
Did you know the US has been wielding a triad in foreign policy? A journo has spelt it out here:
I'm reluctant to accept that Trump has triumphed already, although I was surprised at the extent to which other leaders have been compliant so fast. I doubt he really will anchor the USA back in the Americas. A narcissist hegemon displaying modesty on the global change? Pigs may fly in squadrons like WWII bombers…
On the great displacement. Elon Musk ignorantly retweeted a claim that it is happening in NZ because, allegedly white people are going to be a minority by 2028 in NZ.
Musk added "The Doom of Western Civilisation must be averted" quoting the tweet about NZ that claimed the West is being ruled by foreigners.
The original tweet & Musk seem ignorant of the fact that it is Europeans who are the original foreigners in NZ, and colonisers, plus the fact that NZ is an Asia Pacific country.
I imagine there are racist right wing NZers, cheering on such sentiments.
Musk has been also attacking the EU, using his wealth, power & social media ownership to spread such malicious propaganda.
It is a worry that Trump supporters in the US are using their power and wealth to spread such propaganda into the Asia-Pacific region.
I always thought that, coming out of WW2 and into the Cold war, the US was the West's defender of capitalism and in return it was the manufacturer of weapons to do that, barring a few exceptions.
Britain had some decent jet fighters and bombers that silently ceased development in favour of Northrop and Boeing, and its nuclear researchers seemed to bow in favour of the US having the last word.
When the west bought arms, it often did so from America.
Now, America seems to be saying that unwritten arrangement is over.
Now, I've got two questions somebody might be able to explain for me:
1. Is Trump aligned to ATLAS or is he something of a lone wolf?
2. What happened to the agreement that America signed with the Ukraine that, for half it's mineral rights, it would defend the Ukraine against Russia? I thought that was signed, but now Trump's getting angry because Kelensky doesn't cede land to Russia, which doesn't seem to me to be at all in the spirit of the agreement.
Many of those minerals are in the Donbas.Who knows, backroom deals may have been made with Russia.The US was never going to own those minerals, the deal was preferential access.
God knows about the legalities of such a deal and breaches thereof, but where is international law anyway these days?
Trumps a leaf in the wind, I doubt he would adhere to any agreement or have the tenacity and belief to be part of any movement Atlas or otherwise.But he certainly does typify
the disdain for pansy things like law and decency, preferring raw force and jungle brutality.Ayn Rand would approve
a lone wolf
Could be more perception than reality, eh? He booted Bannon out of his pack, but Bannon got over it. He rearranges the deckchairs whenever he feels like it, but hasn't hit an iceberg yet. Got pissed off with Vlad, but knows he still has the upper hand – but can't quite figure out how to use it. The Venezuela play will be a suitable sideshow.