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Thomas O. Falk
Thomas O. Falk is a journalist. He writes about German, British, and US politics.
Thomas O. Falk is a journalist. He writes about German, British, and US politics.
Languages Spoken:
English, German
US President Donald Trump’s plans for the country’s 250th anniversary don’t seem to project what makes the American experiment worth honouring.
The administration is not backing down on its aggressive immigration operations, and Trump’s threat of invoking the Insurrection Act is not so easily dismissed.
A hard lesson in foreign policy comes to mind: if you break it, you own it. America is now responsible for Venezuela’s failures, factions and future grievances.
If Europe truly values liberty, it must build the means to defend it and start finally seeing the world as it is, not as it remembers it.
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Berlin must ditch the fantasy that it can profit without strategic risks, stop acting like a junior partner and decide what it stands for.
While the US president postures as a peacemaker, he has simply replaced the discipline of diplomacy with the spectacle of performative power.
For all the defence budget increases, European political will is uneven. However, issuing threats that are not enforced is dangerous.
Charlie Kirk’s death should raise alarm about the rising tide of political violence. Instead, bad-faith actors are pushing more incendiary rhetoric.
By normalising soldiers and federalised police on US streets, Trump has been conducting a rehearsal for autocracy.
Keir Starmer’s robust diplomacy masks a country struggling economically and increasingly losing faith in Britain’s two mainstream parties.
Moscow’s credibility is sinking after it failed to stand up for allies in Iran, Syria and Armenia.
As RFK Jnr replaces CDC vaccine experts with hand-picked sceptics, at peril is not just US public health but its global scientific authority.
By inviting China into the equation on Ukraine, Merz is acknowledging that those who can shape outcomes – however flawed – must be engaged.
The EU, Japan, China and other powers need to draw a line. To concede is to legitimise a coercive trading model where strength trumps fairness.
The US system of checks and balances hinges on an unspoken premise: that those who operate it at least respect the rule of law.
Unlike in the 1930s, Europe is united and capable of weaving a global trade web that spans from Shenzhen to Sao Paulo.
For decades, Germans took Russia’s energy, China’s market and the US’ security guarantee for granted. They can’t be so complacent any more.
Amid deteriorating transatlantic relations, Germany’s economic future depends on the ability to chart an independent course between Washington and Beijing.
By slashing foreign aid, politicising intelligence agencies and threatening allies with tariffs, the US risks losing the credibility it spent decades cultivating.
The EU must finally adjust to a world in which US support can no longer be taken for granted.
Britain desperately needs China’s help to revive its economy, but London risks trading Brussels for Beijing as the overseer of its fortunes.
Breaking a promise to not pardon Hunter Biden helps Donald Trump and shatters any moral high ground the Democrats might have stood on.
Germany’s trajectory depends on its next chancellor overcoming ideological divisions to champion economic pragmatism and structural reform.
Harris will wait in vain for Trump to shatter under the pressure of his incoherence. He is a bulldozer and Harris must face him head on.
Amid an erosion of public trust, the need to hold the US judiciary system accountable has never been more dire.
With her ability to mobilise young voters, minorities and women, Kamala Harris has key advantages that can help win over the electorate in November.
Failed post-Brexit promises, successive scandals and poor economic gambles have allowed populism to threaten Britain’s political system.
Instead of offering policy solutions or addressing sceptics, traditional parties in Brussels have left a vacuum for the far-right to fill.
Regardless of external challenges like China, the future of the West is imperilled by decaying political institutions and stagnant economic growth. Once havens for freethinking and the exchange of ideas, Western universities have succumbed to extremist viewpoints and an absence of debate.
