Simon Sebag Montefiore

And that is the orthodoxy that was really personified by the disasters of the Obama-Biden administration, often with the best intentions, often with the best values, but a constant self-doubting about America's place in the world, America's mission. So that is, I think, the deeper significance of the election of Trump.

Well, I think what we're coming out of is an extraordinary period. You know, we're coming out of what I would call, depending on how you calculate it, the 70-year peace or the 75-year peace. But in 1945, there was such a shock that all sorts of things became clear. All sorts of taboos were established. For example, you know, we're talking in a synagogue here, the taboo of anti-Semitism itself.

Well, I think what we're coming out of is an extraordinary period. You know, we're coming out of what I would call, depending on how you calculate it, the 70-year peace or the 75-year peace. But in 1945, there was such a shock that all sorts of things became clear. All sorts of taboos were established. For example, you know, we're talking in a synagogue here, the taboo of anti-Semitism itself.

Well, I think what we're coming out of is an extraordinary period. You know, we're coming out of what I would call, depending on how you calculate it, the 70-year peace or the 75-year peace. But in 1945, there was such a shock that all sorts of things became clear. All sorts of taboos were established. For example, you know, we're talking in a synagogue here, the taboo of anti-Semitism itself.

but also it became self-evident that Western liberal democracy was the right, the freest, the most open society in which to live. And the values that that engendered brought us Great advances in world affairs, the rules-based world order, supranational organization, United Nations, the idea of world human rights.

but also it became self-evident that Western liberal democracy was the right, the freest, the most open society in which to live. And the values that that engendered brought us Great advances in world affairs, the rules-based world order, supranational organization, United Nations, the idea of world human rights.

but also it became self-evident that Western liberal democracy was the right, the freest, the most open society in which to live. And the values that that engendered brought us Great advances in world affairs, the rules-based world order, supranational organization, United Nations, the idea of world human rights.

And then in the 60s, what I call the great liberal reformation of gay rights, abortion, the pill, all this sort of thing. none of that was challenged by anyone for a very long time. So America could go about its mission of selling those ideas to the world. And then, of course, the Soviet Union fell. But it's interesting to realise that there'd never been a period like this in world history.

And then in the 60s, what I call the great liberal reformation of gay rights, abortion, the pill, all this sort of thing. none of that was challenged by anyone for a very long time. So America could go about its mission of selling those ideas to the world. And then, of course, the Soviet Union fell. But it's interesting to realise that there'd never been a period like this in world history.

And then in the 60s, what I call the great liberal reformation of gay rights, abortion, the pill, all this sort of thing. none of that was challenged by anyone for a very long time. So America could go about its mission of selling those ideas to the world. And then, of course, the Soviet Union fell. But it's interesting to realise that there'd never been a period like this in world history.

This wasn't normal. Normally, everybody's against everybody. Most world history is about a multiplayer game. But that was a game of chess between two great players, Soviet Union and United States. When that ended, America lost its way, and America was the unipower.

This wasn't normal. Normally, everybody's against everybody. Most world history is about a multiplayer game. But that was a game of chess between two great players, Soviet Union and United States. When that ended, America lost its way, and America was the unipower.

This wasn't normal. Normally, everybody's against everybody. Most world history is about a multiplayer game. But that was a game of chess between two great players, Soviet Union and United States. When that ended, America lost its way, and America was the unipower.

And for whatever reasons, some of them understandable, some of them preposterous, America squandered that moment, partly with the disaster of the Iraq War. And out of that has come a reordering, a return to normalcy, in which it's ever more important that our society, especially liberal democracies, keep their solidarity, their coherence.

And for whatever reasons, some of them understandable, some of them preposterous, America squandered that moment, partly with the disaster of the Iraq War. And out of that has come a reordering, a return to normalcy, in which it's ever more important that our society, especially liberal democracies, keep their solidarity, their coherence.

And for whatever reasons, some of them understandable, some of them preposterous, America squandered that moment, partly with the disaster of the Iraq War. And out of that has come a reordering, a return to normalcy, in which it's ever more important that our society, especially liberal democracies, keep their solidarity, their coherence.

And it's at this very moment that we're actually eating ourselves in an act of self-mutilation. I mean, there's become a challenge from within society itself.

And it's at this very moment that we're actually eating ourselves in an act of self-mutilation. I mean, there's become a challenge from within society itself.

And it's at this very moment that we're actually eating ourselves in an act of self-mutilation. I mean, there's become a challenge from within society itself.

the entitlements and the entitlements that people believe are owed to them by their societies, some of them financial in the comfort democracies of Europe, like Britain, Canada, and some of them the result of law itself, out of human rights law. But all of these things have created loyalties that are greater than to the state.