This week’s convening of the United Nations General Assembly spotlights the warped state of our world in 2026.
You used to know the good guys and bad guys. You used to think that we, here in the United States of America, fell into the good guys category.
Now, it’s hard to say.
American presidents served as the guide in the fights against fascism, Soviet communism and terrorism. Their legacy is the Marshall Plan, the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the capture of Osama bin Laden.
This month alone, an American president said he might annihilate Iran, started a trade war with Canada and said of seizing Venezuela’s oil “to the victor goes the spoils.” He said Ukraine’s retaliation for the wanton murder of civilians “unfortunately” resulted in the depletion of Russia’s oil and diesel supplies.
The American president thinks Russia, Saudi Arabia and North Korea are allies. He thinks Canada, Mexico, Denmark and South Korea are not.
This topsy-turvy world reminds me somewhat of the secret agent shows of the 1960s.
Because it seems as though the world’s alliances aren’t formed around national interest. They seem based on the self-interest of individual oligarchs.
The most famous of these is the James Bond series, which continues today (BTW: Jack Lowden from “Slow Horses” would be a great 007!). Bond and British Intelligence joined forces with other nations to combat SPECTRE – which stood for SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.
Does that sound like the alliance of Trump, Mohammed Bin Salman, Benjamin Netanyahu, Khalil al-Hayya, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-Il to you?
It’s an alliance that based on the enrichment and personal powerlust of each of them. The idea that everything is zero-sum – that it’s either their way or no way.
Notice one name is missing.
It’s not. Vladimir Putin is the Ernst Blofeld of the modern-day coalition of the wicked. He’s the mastermind. He’s the won with the cat, who will open the trap door for the piranha tank to punish someone for incompetence or insufficient loyalty.
There are days when it seems as though there’s a supervillain plot to take our money and render us beholden. In the process, the world’s real problems – hunger, disease, climate change, technological encroachment – get shunted.
Who is our James Bond?
Actually, I think there are three.
One is the military guy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He’s the one with the creative bent that has given a smaller defender the upper hand against a dark, relentless foe. Watching video of drone attacks on Moscow and St. Petersburg is stunning and a sign the good guys have a shot of winning this.
The economic guy is Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Trump has tried to cripple the greatest neighbor any nation ever had. He insulted its sovereignty and belittled its enterprise and culture.
Carney’s not having any of it. He knows he’s the one with the actual business acumen. And he pressing that knowledge, forming alliances with other nations and selling Canada’s abundance to nations not stupid enough to tariff it.
The third James Bond is us.
We are the agents of change if we want to be. We can lash out against Trump, against the would-be feudal lords of the Middle East, against the hegemonists of Asia and against Putin’s connivance.
The 2026 midterm elections are 40 days away. Early voting has started in four states and will soon be available in all but a handful. Yes, you can vote by mail, but Trump will do what he can to invalidate that, so a convenient early time is the best solution.
When the James Bond movies came out, there was other spy entertainment.
“The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” teamed an American and a Russian as good guys against a world dominance organization named Thrush – which actually didn’t stand for anything.
And, on “Get Smart,” Maxwell Smart was Agent 86 in the comedy about the American espionage group CONTROL’s battle against an evil enterprise. It was appropriately named by the hilarious do of Buck Henry and Mel Brooks.
KAOS.
That’s what it seems like we’re living through. Villains who’d be comical if they weren’t so goddamn dangerous.
It’s time to take control.
