Donald Trump, for better or worse, has a quality that few contemporary heads of state can boast: he says what he thinks. His manners are often brutal, his language is awkward, sometimes even vulgar, but the content – between the noise and the provocation – often reflects a genuine discomfort, a bitter awareness that too many democracies seem to have lost.
Trump’s recent outburst about Israel and Iran—“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing anymore”—isn’t just another theatrical coup from a former president. It is, in its own unhinged way, a cry of frustration at a world that seems to live shackled to the past.
Trump's reaction stems from the violation of the ceasefire, which he himself announced, between Iran and Israel. But his judgment goes further: it captures a larger and more disturbing truth. Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Iran, Israel - all realities deeply linked to ancient mental patterns, to unresolved conflicts, to an idea of geopolitics that smells of dust and school history books.
It is as if entire nations were moving in a parallel universe, governed not by the reality of the present or the vision of the future, but by grudges, fears, and obsessions of the past.
This same mental mechanism was present in the French monarchy of the 18th century, when it supported the American insurgents in the war of independence against England. The French did not do so out of ideal conviction, but because they thought it was yet another chapter in the eternal European rivalry between powers.
They did not understand that they were contributing to the birth of a new world, different, dynamic, that would surpass them. The same mistake is repeated today. Israel, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, but also much of Europe, behave as if ethnic, religious or ideological wars were still effective tools to define one's place in the world.
In reality, what we are witnessing is the final phase of the West. Not a sudden fall, but a slow fading, a profound weariness that manifests itself precisely in the inability to think ahead. The conflicts that are burning today – from Ukraine to the Middle East – all seem linked to an era that no longer exists. Wars of borders, of identity, of memory. The main actors – Israel and Iran, but also Europe and Russia – seem more concerned with avenging centuries-old wrongs than with building a future.
In this context, Trump, however controversial, represents a significant anomaly. He is the expression of an America that has perhaps understood that it is in decline, but that at least seeks new challenges, new routes .
Sometimes in a confused, chaotic, even dangerous way. But the effort is to break the pattern, to leave the museum of ideological wars to enter a world where power is measured differently. Trump is not a visionary, but he is the brutal spokesman of a nation that, although decadent, still retains the instinct for change .
Europe, on the other hand, appears like an old lady longing for her youth, still dressed in the clothes of a time that no longer exists. Israel and Iran, in turn, fight symbolic wars in a theater where spectators are less and less interested. And meanwhile, outside this stale scene, there are new actors preparing for the future: China and Africa, in particular.
China has long understood that power today is played on other tables: technology, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, economic hegemony. It does not need ideological wars to expand. Africa, however, despite all its difficulties, represents the real challenge of the 21st century. It is there that a new world is being built, demographically young, digitally connected, potentially revolutionary. Those who know how to dialogue with Africa will have a place in the future. Those who continue to fight the wars of the 20th century are destined to irrelevance.
This is why Trump's outbursts, however questionable their manner, hit the mark . They are the expression, sometimes unconscious, of a need that the West today refuses to listen to: that of changing its mental pattern.
It is not just about stopping a war or brokering a truce. It is about understanding that the world is no longer one of cold wars, ideological alliances, ethnic borders. Continuing to move in that paradigm is like dancing on a stage without an audience.
The tragedy is that neither Israel, nor Iran, nor Europe seem willing to abandon the scene. They prefer the tragic role of decadent protagonists rather than the humility of reinventing themselves.
America – or at least a part of it – has the courage to acknowledge its decline and seek a way to survive. This, after all, is Donald Trump's greatest merit – perhaps his only one: to force us, with his excessive tones, to face a reality that we would prefer to ignore.
Because the real danger today is not the war itself. It is the inability to think about the future. It is living in a past that will never return.Marco Baratto
Trump’s recent outburst about Israel and Iran—“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing anymore”—isn’t just another theatrical coup from a former president. It is, in its own unhinged way, a cry of frustration at a world that seems to live shackled to the past.
Trump's reaction stems from the violation of the ceasefire, which he himself announced, between Iran and Israel. But his judgment goes further: it captures a larger and more disturbing truth. Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Iran, Israel - all realities deeply linked to ancient mental patterns, to unresolved conflicts, to an idea of geopolitics that smells of dust and school history books.
It is as if entire nations were moving in a parallel universe, governed not by the reality of the present or the vision of the future, but by grudges, fears, and obsessions of the past.
This same mental mechanism was present in the French monarchy of the 18th century, when it supported the American insurgents in the war of independence against England. The French did not do so out of ideal conviction, but because they thought it was yet another chapter in the eternal European rivalry between powers.
They did not understand that they were contributing to the birth of a new world, different, dynamic, that would surpass them. The same mistake is repeated today. Israel, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, but also much of Europe, behave as if ethnic, religious or ideological wars were still effective tools to define one's place in the world.
In reality, what we are witnessing is the final phase of the West. Not a sudden fall, but a slow fading, a profound weariness that manifests itself precisely in the inability to think ahead. The conflicts that are burning today – from Ukraine to the Middle East – all seem linked to an era that no longer exists. Wars of borders, of identity, of memory. The main actors – Israel and Iran, but also Europe and Russia – seem more concerned with avenging centuries-old wrongs than with building a future.
In this context, Trump, however controversial, represents a significant anomaly. He is the expression of an America that has perhaps understood that it is in decline, but that at least seeks new challenges, new routes .
Sometimes in a confused, chaotic, even dangerous way. But the effort is to break the pattern, to leave the museum of ideological wars to enter a world where power is measured differently. Trump is not a visionary, but he is the brutal spokesman of a nation that, although decadent, still retains the instinct for change .
Europe, on the other hand, appears like an old lady longing for her youth, still dressed in the clothes of a time that no longer exists. Israel and Iran, in turn, fight symbolic wars in a theater where spectators are less and less interested. And meanwhile, outside this stale scene, there are new actors preparing for the future: China and Africa, in particular.
China has long understood that power today is played on other tables: technology, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, economic hegemony. It does not need ideological wars to expand. Africa, however, despite all its difficulties, represents the real challenge of the 21st century. It is there that a new world is being built, demographically young, digitally connected, potentially revolutionary. Those who know how to dialogue with Africa will have a place in the future. Those who continue to fight the wars of the 20th century are destined to irrelevance.
This is why Trump's outbursts, however questionable their manner, hit the mark . They are the expression, sometimes unconscious, of a need that the West today refuses to listen to: that of changing its mental pattern.
It is not just about stopping a war or brokering a truce. It is about understanding that the world is no longer one of cold wars, ideological alliances, ethnic borders. Continuing to move in that paradigm is like dancing on a stage without an audience.
The tragedy is that neither Israel, nor Iran, nor Europe seem willing to abandon the scene. They prefer the tragic role of decadent protagonists rather than the humility of reinventing themselves.
America – or at least a part of it – has the courage to acknowledge its decline and seek a way to survive. This, after all, is Donald Trump's greatest merit – perhaps his only one: to force us, with his excessive tones, to face a reality that we would prefer to ignore.
Because the real danger today is not the war itself. It is the inability to think about the future. It is living in a past that will never return.
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