In 1929, the renowned thinker Antonio Gramsci was quoted as saying, "The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters." We can easily apply that quotation to what has been and is going on around the globe these last few months.

Europeans are grappling with new and unsettling realities as the US re-forges its alliances. From a purely security perspective, it must be accepted that Europe and Canada have to stand independently without America. America has not just drifted away. It's cut itself off. Anybody who thinks that America is still committed to NATO is not living in today's real world.

The American security guarantee for Europe has gone. We are in a new world. The French have been absolutely right about strategic autonomy; and the unwavering idea that America will always be the leader of NATO has been proved completely wrong. The only way that catastrophe can from now onwards be avoided in Europe is through effective deterrence, and to deter effectively means you have to be ready for the worst case.

It's no overstatement to say that European countries are facing the most dire situation they have faced since the end of the Second World War.

It is in the European DNA to want to think that the world is globalising, that a more open world and interdependence are conditions for security, rather than dependencies or interdependencies being at risk of creating a security risk. The reality is that it will take a little time to respond to the new world order.

Take Germany, for example. It decided to rely on Russia for its energy, China for trade and the US for security. All three of them are today gone.

The above brief background can, for the most part, be attributed to the fact that Donald Trump has officially re-emerged into the international arena, and the shape of the world in coming years most likely shall depend upon his whims.

The world theatre appears to be filled with nebulous clouds that reflect many countries' confusion, dismay and uncertainty. Donald Trump has been behaving like an emperor of the Western Hemisphere, hurling words of threat and intimidation vis-à-vis Canada, Mexico, Panama and even Greenland. Behind such imperialist and expansionist manners of Trump, one can detect anti-modernism, reactionism and anachronism.

The concerns over the Trump administration are not limited to the Western Hemisphere or Europe. The countries of the Global South share a similar anxiety. For example, the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development was very wild and crude and clearly illustrated the US' disregard for the Global South.

Also, Trump's idea of Gaza, the land of Palestinians, and proposing the relocation or displacement of two million people there to third countries was a stark violation of international humanitarian laws.

It was another instance of the disregard for international norms, similar to Putin's deprivation of Ukraine's lands. Antics like those will undoubtedly infuriate countries in the Global South and further isolate the US internationally.

Trump's weird respect for autocratic leaders, coupled with disrespect for allies, demonstrates his inclination towards controlling the world together with other big powers. Little by little, he is creating an oligopoly of privileged nations by sidelining smaller countries.

Trump's hasty, impatient and coercive manner appears to be unstoppable. However, mistrust, antipathy or indignation toward the Trump administration among allies and non-allies is getting more serious. As a consequence, the existing world order seems to have started to collapse; notably, the US-European alliance will get acutely fragile, thereby pleasing Russia and China, in particular.

In the coming years, the international community will shift from justice, liberalism and multilateralism to strength, crude national interests and unilateralism.

The US-China rivalry shall persist but not be destructive. Long-time allies are starting to view the U.S. not just as unreliable but as a possible threat to their own security.

Trump's tariffs are going from largely a threat to reality today, causing major changes for many businesses worldwide.

We absolutely have a new world order. The 70-year post-World War II model is today gone. Dead. I wonder whether we will ever recover it. There's no question that the old rules have changed. Covid started it, and this is now accelerating it.

The world order that Trump inherited wasn't perfect, but it was rules-based. Washington has become the court of Nero, an incendiary emperor, with submissive courtiers and a jester high on ketamine in charge of purging the civil service.

This is a tragedy for the free world. Trump's message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose higher tariffs on you than his enemies, and he will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.

The law of rulers risks replacing the rule of law.

One of the most grievous consequences of the new U.S. administration's behaviour is perhaps the one least talked about.

In narrowly prioritising their own military security, EU member states are acting out a delusion based on the notion that Europe can thrive behind high walls.

As the poor of the world fall further behind and are devastated by population growth, the inability to industrialise and the spread of disease, they continue opposing change.

Their conflicts, growth and, ultimately, migration will rock the rich world to a degree too few today can imagine.

Dr Mark Said is a lawyer