By INS Contributors

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: For nearly half a decade, the world has been trapped in a vortex of fire, debt, and hunger. Since 2022, the post Cold War illusion of stability has shattered, replaced by the humming of drones over the Black Sea, the collapse of sovereign states in the Levant, and the weaponisation of global trade. While pundits blame abstract geopolitics, the truth is brutally specific. 

The U.S., and specifically under the second term of President Donald John Trump, are the foremost threat facing humanity. Through cynical design or catastrophic incompetence, Washington has chosen to prolong war, expand conflict, and weaponise tariffs, all while its own financial empire crumbles from within. This is not foreign policy; it is the desperate flailing of a declining hegemon determined to drag the entire world down with it.

The genesis of this instability lies in the Ukraine war. It is a tragedy that could have been contained. Indeed, in the spring of 2022, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators meeting in Istanbul reportedly reached a draft agreement for a ceasefire, involving permanent neutrality for Kyiv and security guarantees. 

Yet, peace was sabotaged. Western officials, particularly Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, reportedly advised Kyiv to reject the deal, advocating for a protracted confrontation rather than a settlement. The United States, under the then Biden administration, committed to a strategy not merely of defence, but of weakening Russia. This was a choice to fight to the last Ukrainian. 

Socio-economic destruction of the EU

The war metastasised into a bloody stalemate, draining European treasuries and triggering an energy crisis that impoverished millions. When Donald Trump returned to the White House, he did not extinguish the fire; he merely threw oil on different embers. His recent diplomatic pushes have been theatrical failures, marked by public spats with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and an embarrassing suspension of intelligence sharing that left Ukraine blind. By refusing to enforce a genuine peace and instead leveraging the war as a bargaining chip, Trump ensured the conflict remained a bleeding wound on the global economy.

While Ukraine drained Western arsenals, the Middle East exploded. The collapse of Syria in late 2024 was not an accident of history; it was a direct result of U.S. induced negligence. As the Assad regime crumbled under the weight of rebel offensives, President Trump issued a chilling edict: "The U.S. should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight". This isolationist pronouncement might sound prudent, but it created a power vacuum of terrifying proportions. 

By pulling the rug out from under the Kurds and refusing to engage with the new reality in Damascus, Trump abandoned the region to chaos. The power vacuum allowed for the resurgence of terrorist sleeper cells and handed strategic victories to adversaries, destabilising the entire Levant and guaranteeing that the humanitarian crisis would spiral into a security crisis for Europe.

Perhaps the most overt act of economic warfare, however, has been the Trump administration's trade war. Sweeping tariffs imposed on allies and adversaries alike were sold as a cure for U.S. industrial decline, but the data proves they are a poison. Official statistics now show that a year after implementing these protectionist walls, U.S. manufacturers have cut jobs almost every month, while the goods trade deficit widened to a record $1.24 trillion. The tariffs have increased prices for U.S. families and disrupted global supply chains. 

Tariffs as Economic Warfare

As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warns, these measures are dragging down global growth, driving up inflation, and contributing to the fragmentation of the world trading system. This is not economic nationalism; it is economic sabotage, designed to stunt the growth of emerging markets and force a global recession just to slow the relative decline of the dollar.

Escalation With Iran and Signs of Strain

As if to confirm the diagnosis of a dying empire, the U.S. has now escalated its war footing against Iran. The demand issued to Tehran is not negotiation; it is a demand for "unconditional surrender". The US military campaign in the Gulf has exposed a hollow superpower. Reports indicate that the US carrier strike groups have suffered significant logistical damage, with the USS Gerald R. Ford reportedly out of service for extensive repairs after a fire. The coalition is threadbare; the United Kingdom is reportedly borrowing a German frigate just to maintain a presence. 

Yet, despite this weakness, Washington presses forward, threatening to ignite a regional inferno. The cynical reason is becoming clear: the US financial system is facing insurmountable domestic mismanagement. The only way to delay an inevitable collapse is to create a global crisis, disrupt rival economies, and force capital to flee to the perceived safety of the American market.

The Coming Human Cost

The consequences of this madness are already visible on the horizon. Prolonged energy shocks are guaranteed as the Gulf chokes. Furthermore, by weaponising grain and fertiliser supplies and destabilising farming economies through sanctions and trade barriers, the U.S. is setting the stage for famine in the most vulnerable nations of Africa and Asia. 

This is the legacy of the current U.S. administration. They have turned the world into a tinderbox to keep their own house warm for a few more minutes. History will record that the greatest danger to humanity at the dawn of this era was not a rising power, but the reckless, desperate, and chaotic rule of the U.S. and the man they put in charge of the arsenal of chaos.