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A month into Donald Trump\u2019s second term as U.S. president, it has become clear around the world that America\u2019s approach to foreign policy is undergoing a significant change.<\/p>\n
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Since the end of the Second World War, the United States\u2019 alliance with the West has held steady, but as that evolves, those who study history say the world order we have known for 80 years could be set for a seismic shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is such uncharted territory; none of us have actually lived through anything like this before,\u201d said John Blaxland, a professor of International Security at the Australian National University.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly there is deep concern around the world about this being a retreat from leadership (by the United States) to a more transactional, unilateralist approach to international relations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many European leaders were stunned earlier this month when in a blistering speech at the Munich Security Conference, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance<\/a> told the audience \u201cthere is a new sheriff in town under Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0leadership\u201d and warned governments that internal threats to democracy, like election cancellations and censorship, are greater threats to their countries than external antagonists like China<\/a> and Russia.<\/p>\n Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThe threat that I worry the most about vis-\u00e0-vis Europe is not Russia, it\u2019s not China, it\u2019s not any other external actor,\u201d Vance said, speaking at the\u00a0Munich Security Conference<\/a>. \u201cWhat I worry about is the threat from within \u2014 the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n Days later, Trump appeared to reverse course on the country\u2019s support for Ukraine, adopting hostile rhetoric reminiscent of the misinformation frequently shared by Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t