2026 started with a bang and made it clear that we are now living in an age of Tyrants: Three powerful ones (Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping) and one less powerful (Benjamin Netanyahu).
All four of them are hellbent on destroying the law-based order of the world and replacing it with strongman power. They aim to carve out areas of influence, and in the wake of doing this, they murder civilians as they see fit.
Our government, with a chancellor-in-training and utterly hapless ministers, is not fit to deal with a situation like this and stumbles from one blunder to the next, endangering not only our country but the whole of Europe.
Most striking, though, is the joyful glee with which some men approach the possibility of war. Finally, no more discussion of emotions or women’s rights, and back to “honorable” fights on the battlefield. And death.
I would much rather see Europe weaning itself off of fossil fuels and thus shut down the tyrant’s war machine.
(Winter on Kyotoplatz, Cologne, 1/7/26)
