Trump, Maduro and Diminished Values
CrossFireArabia- January 6, 2026
By Dr Khairi Janbek
The late British historian Eric Hobsbawm had an interesting theory that of long centuries and short centuries. In the first, no big transformations happens, consequently these centuries are counted them in terms of numerics, like 100 years, for instance.
In the second case however, so many big transformations occur, and so these centuries are counted not numerically, but by their effect on human life, progress and development.
To this one wishes to add, that throughout history, people moved habitually into the new century with old ideas passing through and tipping over. Consequently, the grasping of the new developments is always difficult, and our current situation in the 21st century is, in fact, no different.
We have entered this century with the values inherited from the past 100 years with examples being the truth, legality, international law, human rights, sovereignty, and many other norms. Now, this is not to say in any way the values of the past century were ideal, but at least there were norms that could be appealed to not necessarily punish transgressors, but to embarrass them.
However today, and with the latest debacles, we have now entered an age in which you can easily add the word “post-” to all the aforementioned values. In fact we are in the age of post human values, in which the logic of pure force, and the law of the jungle prevails and used with no compunction.
With the latest action on Venezuela, the US administration is providing a new paradigm to the world: That of the policy of the backyard to illustrate the point and as used by British prime minister Neville Chamberlain prior to World War II and in which he wrote after the annexation of Czechoslovakia by Adolf Hitler, as being the dictator’s new backyard.
What he meant of course is that any entity with enough strength is permitted to go into countries which it considers to be its own backyard. Flipping back, today this is how America sees its new role, acting to prevent harm to US interests but also is willing to negotiate on other issues important for the interests of America.
As the situation stands, Washington through the Trump administration, is clearly moving to revive the Monroe Doctrine and use it unashamedly and in accordance with the backyard theory.
And as for the international outlook, the current US strategy is to push for extreme right-wing governments to run Europe, seeing the continent as an economically powerful block but without military swing and/or political clout and willing to negotiate to end the war in Ukraine to Russia’s advantage.
Meanwhile, Washington wants also to push the Abraham Accords in the Middle East and get Arab governments, especially the Saudis, to negotiate with Israel to liquidate the Palestinian problem once and for all. In this paradigm, the fate of Taiwan remains to be seen, whether it becomes the sacrificial lamb for US-China Accords or not. This is how one sees the balance.
However having said all that, and in this formula, the allies of the US can be hurt in as much way as the detractors of America.
Dr Janbek is a Jordanian historian living in Paris.
