Daily Brief: Nations Start the Planning for a Regional World Order
A cultural analysis of how nations are planning for a global system without the US.
In Today’s Email:
🌾 Global food prices surge, nations coordinate responses
💱 Australia pushes for an Asia-Pacific digital currency bloc
⚡ Mexico takes control of its lithium future
🧠 Cultural Lens: Building Together, Not Waiting Alone
📚 Book of the Week: Coal: A Human History
📱 TikTok Roundup: New Systems Are Already Underway
🗳️ Poll: Is the U.S. still at the center?
If there were any hope that the US would reverse course and return as the world’s leader, it appears to have passed. Trump is moving forward. The Republican Party is supporting him. The Democratic Party and civil institutions are making only symbolic gestures in opposition.
This is a clear message to other nations that it is time to plan for the next iteration of the world order.
From trade to tech to natural resources, countries are designing new systems to replace the old ones.
The question isn’t if the global order is changing.
It’s how quickly and what it will look like.
Cultural Dimensions Overview
Particularism vs. Universalism: Countries are creating flexible, regional solutions instead of relying on American-formed global institutions.
Long-Term Orientation vs. Short-Term Politics: Emerging economic blocs reflect planning, long-term solutions, and an understanding that the US is not returning.
Collectivism vs. Individualism: The shift toward regional cooperation marks a turn away from national exceptionalism.
The News
🌾 Global Food Prices Surge on Weather and Trade Disruption
Cultural Lens: Particularism vs. Universalism
Extreme droughts in South Asia and new U.S. tariffs have sent food prices soaring.
Instead of looking to the US for guidance, countries are turning to regional partners, bilateral deals, and targeted stockpiles to stabilize supply.
Unilateralism is fading, adaptive collaboration is rising.
➡️ Read more
💱 Australia Proposes Asia-Pacific Digital Currency Bloc
Cultural Lens: Long-Term Orientation vs. Short-Term Politics
Australia is working with Singapore, Japan, and South Korea on a new digital currency alliance.
They are laying the groundwork for a future where regional trade doesn’t depend on the US dollar or its political volatility.
The dollar is the foundation of US power; once nations stop using it, American power and prosperity are over.
➡️ Read more
⚡ Mexico Nationalizes Lithium Sector
Cultural Lens: Collectivism vs. Individualism
Mexico’s decision to nationalize its lithium sector reflects a larger shift toward sovereignty and collective stewardship.
Rather than letting foreign corporations control a critical future-facing resource, the country is reclaiming ownership to power its development.
It is also a retaliation to Trump’s tariffs, giving the Mexican government direct control of a vital resource America needs.
➡️ Read more
Why This Matters
America’s message to the world: No more consistency.
Competent global leadership for a few years, chaotic isolation the next. No one follows a leader like that.
The world is in the planning stage for the post-American order.
Food systems are being rewired. Currency blocs are emerging. Resource sovereignty is rising.
Global cooperation isn’t finished; it’s America that’s finished.
Understanding — Not Judging
Collapse can be seen as the end or the beginning.
Sometimes it clears the space we’ve been too timid to touch.
When the old systems fail, we don’t lose direction, we change direction. That’s when nations stop waiting and start building.
Not because they’re ready. Because they must.
Book Recommendation: Coal: A Human History by Barbara Freese
In Coal, Barbara Freese shows how a single resource shaped economies, built empires, and forced nations to reimagine everything from energy to labor to politics.
Today, food, currency, and lithium play the same role.
The systems we depend on, how we eat, trade, and power our futures, are being reshaped because they must.
Coal taught us that whoever controls the resource controls the structure.
Now, the world is redistributing control and writing new rules in the process.
More Cultural Perspectives on TikTok
It only takes 3.5 people in 100 to change a government. Be one of those people.
What does the world see happening to the US? What is the view from the outside?
China stepping up to fill the American void
Tiktok failed to load.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser