In our hyperconnected age of instant news and viral images, too many international-relations “analysts” and “commentators” resemble phone-clutching adolescents, lurching from one snapshot moment to another, proclaiming epochal shifts based on photo ops and fleeting diplomatic encounters while ignoring the deeper structural currents that shape global power dynamics.
Consider the whiplash-inducing coverage of recent events. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy faced what some described as a humiliation at the White House in February, pundits declared it proof of America’s abandonment of its allies. Yet weeks later, his warm reception at the Vatican spawned equally breathless commentary about Europe’s ascendant moral leadership.
Similarly, when U.S. President Donald Trump successfully pushed NATO members to commit to spending 5% of gross domestic product on defense, some heralded American strength renewed, while others saw desperate overreach. Then came the Sept. 3 military parade in Beijing, where the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un flanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping prompted declarations that U.S. dominance had definitively ended.
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