In this new episode of ‘Unshocked’, Naomi and Mehdi discuss Trump’s recent assaults on US allies Canada and Ukraine, his growing allyship with Putin, and how Trump’s actions reflect the breakdown of international order, especially since Israel’s war on Gaza.
“It's kind of a mafia polar world that is shaping up,” Naomi tells Mehdi. “Some people want to argue that this is all just about Trump being Putin's stooge. I think it's much more about a common theory of power – about might makes right.”
“It’s something I worry about,” Mehdi explains, “The US and the UK… have allowed Israel basically to burn down the Geneva Conventions, international humanitarian law as we know it. The response to that can't just be, ‘Well, okay, everyone gets to do that now.’ I mean, that's a great rhetorical flourish in a debate, but actually, you don't want China doing that to Taiwan. You don't want Russia doing that in Ukraine.”
Naomi also points out the limits of the international humanitarian order, how they were “rigged from the start to provide a veto to major powers”, and the two go on to discuss Trump’s trade war with Canada and his repeated calls to annex Naomi’s home country.
“It's not just being annexed by America, as you say,” Mehdi says. “It's Trump's America. It’s not Obama's America that's trying to annex you. It’s Donald Trump's America, term two.”
Watch the full interview above to also hear why the rest of the world is responding to Trump with more militarism and how the climate crisis is an essential player in these conversations.
Free subscribers can watch a 9-minute preview of the episode. To access the full interview, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
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‘Unshocked’ is a monthly conversation with acclaimed author and activist Naomi Klein, where she and Mehdi pull viewers ‘out of shock’ through analysis, facts, and history.
