US 2025 National Security Strategy

[Jack by the hedge]

Perhaps this needs its own thread. The White House has released a new strategy document describing, essentially, what the administration believes America wants in the coming decades and how to get it.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

I found it via this 15 min perspective piece by Anders Puck Nielsen, who is always worth watching.


Briefly, he says it contains an unusual amount of praise and flattery for the president (Surprised? Nor me). A lot of "spheres of influence" style of discussion about "the Western Hemisphere" which appears to mean North and South America, where outside powers, by which it obviously means China, should not be taking control of major assets, equally obviously the Panama canal. A view that Europe needs to get with the programme and send those brown people back or you just won't recognise the place in 20 years, and America should do what it can to make that happen. Very negative about the European Union. A definite dialling back on support for NATO. A striking lack of concern about Russia. Complete rejection of climate change problems, surely to nobody's surprise. Much fretting about trade imbalance with China and how unfair it is that everyone buys stuff from there just because it's cheaper. Abandoning aid in favour of trade in Africa - doing deals for their resources.

It also more than once commends America's "soft power" as an influence for good, which certainly surprised me as the current administration seemed to have entirely abandoned all efforts in that regard in favour of just throwing its weight around.

 

[Steve]

So just a rehash of Trump's childish worldview.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

So just a rehash of Trump's childish worldview.

We could hardly expect anything else.

Though as I said I was struck by the repeated mention of the US's "unrivalled soft power". Though it adds the caveat that it's "effective only if we believe in our country’s inherent greatness and decency" whatever you take that to mean.

 

[dirtywick]

unfortunately their actions seem to indicate they don’t seem to understand soft power at all.

 

[Steve]

We could hardly expect anything else.

Though as I said I was struck by the repeated mention of the US's "unrivalled soft power". Though it adds the caveat that it's "effective only if we believe in our country’s inherent greatness and decency" whatever you take that to mean.

Internally "believing" in the country's "inherent greatness and decency" will not work given the current views of the rest of the world. Great and decent are hardly descriptors many outside of that country would currently use.

 

[Dabop]

Internally "believing" in the country's "inherent greatness and decency" will not work given the current views of the rest of the world. Great and decent are hardly descriptors many outside of that country would currently use.

Grate and indecent are probably far closer to what 'TROTW' thinks whenever the US is mentioned....
"inherent greatness and decency"- PMSL- thats not even CLOSE to what most of us think when it comes to the US these days.... (and hasnt been for a long time....)- that ship sailed for good back at the beginnings of this millennium....
GW severely damaged the US's reputation, trump 1 was a HUGE impactor but could be written off as 'they didn't know any better' but trump 2 was the final 'they knew better, but just didn't care- or are actively evil in themselves' moment for a substantial part of the US public and government outing themselves....

As for 'soft power' the US has literally zero of that left- in fact the US supporting something is pretty much an automatic 'deal breaker' for most of us....

 

[Planigale]

Perhaps this needs its own thread. The White House has released a new strategy document describing, essentially, what the administration believes America wants in the coming decades and how to get it.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf

I found it via this 15 min perspective piece by Anders Puck Nielsen, who is always worth watching.


Briefly, he says it contains an unusual amount of praise and flattery for the president (Surprised? Nor me). A lot of "spheres of influence" style of discussion about "the Western Hemisphere" which appears to mean North and South America, where outside powers, by which it obviously means China, should not be taking control of major assets, equally obviously the Panama canal. A view that Europe needs to get with the programme and send those brown people back or you just won't recognise the place in 20 years, and America should do what it can to make that happen. Very negative about the European Union. A definite dialling back on support for NATO. A striking lack of concern about Russia. Complete rejection of climate change problems, surely to nobody's surprise. Much fretting about trade imbalance with China and how unfair it is that everyone buys stuff from there just because it's cheaper. Abandoning aid in favour of trade in Africa - doing deals for their resources.

It also more than once commends America's "soft power" as an influence for good, which certainly surprised me as the current administration seemed to have entirely abandoned all efforts in that regard in favour of just throwing its weight around.

If I was Israel I would be worried.

 

[Flo]

We could hardly expect anything else.

Though as I said I was struck by the repeated mention of the US's "unrivalled soft power". Though it adds the caveat that it's "effective only if we believe in our country’s inherent greatness and decency" whatever you take that to mean.

It is the same belief in the country's inherent greatness that allows Parisian restaurants catering almost exclusively to tourists to keep proudly serving expensive and unpalatable slop, and that makes so many Parisians to consider themselves paragons of good taste and fashion while wearing the equivalent of a badly cut potato sack.

(disclosure: my family and I originate from Paris but have been tired of the superior mentality by my 5th year …)