There is a stigma around the term ‘proxy’. It invokes a caricature of a puppet master pulling strings. In the context of conflict, it suggests that one party is being forced to fight and die at the direction of a more powerful party. In reality, there are no puppets, only actors with layered motivations and abilities.

The current trajectory of the “America First” is not isolationism, but perhaps a turn to predatory unipolarity. America is gambling with its long-standing global stability for short-term material gains, which could potentially bring chaos and weakening to American hegemony and global order.

What the episode made visible, however, is the structural fragility of satirical expression when the conditions around it shift. Public broadcasters can come under pressure from political actors who have openly stated their intention to reshape or dismantle public institutions. Private broadcasters, meanwhile, can be steered by the priorities of their owners.

What happens when a regime figures out how to Photoshop its tyranny into “democracy”? When the dictator swaps the military jacket for a tailored suit and starts quoting human rights conventions between propaganda speeches?

Throughout history, hundreds of regimes have employed Titushky-like tactics. There is no denying their effectiveness; however, they also come with a huge risk. By openly failing to protect citizens, the state’s monopoly on violence slips and along with it, its legitimacy.

Major powers lose their sphere of influence, not due to encroaching adversaries, but to their denial of their neighbor’s autonomy. They overplay their hand, abuse their power, and fail to provide their neighbors with anything worth staying for.

This is no longer just a story of young people leaving and aging societies with significant internal migrations reshaping the spatial structure of the countries. It is the story of a region that has leveraged the EU integration context to ascend economically, but is demographically on the brink of erosion. Because where there is a vacuum, capital, influence, infrastructure—and often geopolitics—flow in.

War can no longer be seen as a local failure; it is reproducing itself within a system that has failed to regulate it. And democracies, far from being immune, are active participants. The challenge is no longer just to stop a war. It is to prevent more from joining the wave.

Many West -African nations loosening military ties with France. Russia has seized the opportunity to expand its influence in the region.

Trump's offer to buy Greenland is not a mere presidential fantasy; it goes much further and is aligned with a broader interest of power.