Roberto Bertoni Amid the eventful summer that has just ended, one piece of news went curiously unnoticed, even though it may well be the geopolitical event of the year: the pact signed on 7 August at Mecca between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan. The world’s foremost oil and religious power (the location chosen for the meeting was, of course, no accident), NATO’s second-largest military power, and a nuclear-armed state have joined forces, effectively declaring the end of American hegemony over defence and the settlement of international disputes. After all, Trumpism is nothing more than an isolationist doctrine that, over the course of the second term, has turned into a kind of traffic controller devoid of any strategy or, worse still, driven solely by the personal and financial interests of its dominus. What contemporary America lacks is thus not even the will to play a role in the world, but the capacity to do so — caught in a pincer between Bannon’s doctrine, inspired by America First and the paleoconservatism of the 1920s his mentor invokes; Vance’s moderate interventionism, the “hillbilly” turned vice president with plain presidential ambitions; and Rubio’s interventionism — the Cuban-American secretary of state who, of the three, sits closest to the old GOP doctrine of Reagan and the Bushes, now supplanted by the new MAGA line. ...

As expected, just one hour before the deadline set by Donald Trump to “unleash Hell,” the United States announced a new trucewith Iran. An event that was easy to foresee, given the international contextin which a highly significant role is played by a clownish president whose truevocation is that of a speculator capable of extracting personal profit fromabrupt stock market fluctuations. Fluctuations that are themselves easy toanticipate, since he can provoke them directly by virtue of the political roleto which Americans have unwisely elected him. ...

The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024 marked a turning point in Syria’s recent history, opening a phase characterized by deep uncertainty but also by the possibility of change. In this new context, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, now known as Ahmed al-Sharaa, has emerged as a central figure in the country’s transitional process. His trajectory reflects a significant evolution, not only on a personal level but also within the broader Syrian political landscape, marked by a shift from an insurgent approach to a still-evolving governance structure. Understanding al-Sharaa’s current role therefore requires retracing the path he followed to consolidate his power during the Syrian war. In this process, al-Sharaa not only strengthened his authority but also gradually transformed the nature of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the organization he leads. ...

Iran is a political entity in which the ethno-confessional dimension is essential. The millennia-old tradition of the Persian Empire was based on tolerance toward all minorities. The most powerful Persian emperor, Darius I, described himself as “the king of the land of all ethnicities.” This phrase is engraved on his tomb in Susa (Shush), in 486 BC. This tradition of tolerance was broken in 1928 in favor of a hyper-centralized system of repression of minorities. ...