Israel is a small country with a big personality — the geopolitical equivalent of that compact uncle who insists on sitting with his back to the wall at every restaurant, just in case the waiters are plotting. Surrounded by neighbours who watch it like someone eyeing the last piece of suya, Israel has perfected the siege mentality. It reacts first, explains rarely, and still expects standing ovations from its allies.
But that’s understandable. It’s small. It’s tense. It’s basically a pressure cooker with a flag.
What is not understandable is when a superpower — an actual continental buffet of military and financial muscle — decides to imitate the behaviour of a country the size of a motorway service station.
Yet, under Donald Trump, America seemed to wake up one morning and say:
“You know what? Let’s try the Israel starter pack: paranoia, preemption, and pointless provocations.”
The Venezuela Adventure: Sheriff Trump Rides Again
The US charging into Venezuela was another episode in Washington’s favourite TV series: Global Policing: The Unauthorized Cowboy Edition.
Diplomacy?
Negotiation?
Sending a delegation?
No. Why bother when you can reach for the biggest stick in the room?
It’s almost as if America saw Israel launching preemptive maneuvers and thought, “Cute! Let’s do it too — but in 4K and with surround sound.”
But at least Israel acts from genuine existential fear.
The US acts mostly because… the President woke up cranky and needed a foreign villain before lunch.
Enter Nigeria: Trump Discovers a “Christian Genocide” Nobody Else Saw
Then came Trump’s colourful lecture to Nigeria — a moment so fantastically bizarre it deserves its own Broadway musical.
Standing at the White House podium, Trump warned Nigeria about a “Christian genocide,” a claim so vague, so unverified, and so wonderfully dramatic that even Nollywood directors whispered: “This script is too much.”
You could almost hear Nigerian officials thinking:
“Ah. So today it’s genocide? Tomorrow maybe witches? Or frogs?”
Trump’s threat was delivered with the full confidence of a man who had learned about Nigeria 12 minutes earlier from a WhatsApp broadcast message. Nigeria — a country of 200 million loud, complicated humans — suddenly reduced to a simplistic, election-winning talking point.
It was Israel-style foreign policy fan fiction:
Take a complex issue, remove all nuance, shout ‘persecution,’ add sanctions threat, stir.
International Law: America’s Favourite Optional Service
America helped write the manual on international law. It edited it. It printed it. It even stapled the pages.
But lately it behaves like a student who plagiarised the exam rules and then broke them during the test.
Whether it’s Venezuela or Nigeria, there’s a new doctrine at play:
“Do as we say, not as we randomly do on Tuesdays.”
Israel may look at the world through the lens of perpetual existential threat. But when the US copies that behaviour, it becomes something far more dangerous:
a superpower pretending it’s a cornered cat while sitting on the world’s largest pile of missiles.
Cowboys Without Cattle
The world doesn’t need America as a sheriff who fires warning shots at every country that appears in Fox News headlines. We already have one heavily-armed fortress-state driven by fear and historical trauma. Adding a superpower to that emotional cocktail is how world orders unravel and diplomats develop migraines.
If the US continues this cowboy impersonation, don’t be surprised if other nations start feeling they too can as Russia is doing in Ukraine and other former soviet states.
Invent threats Ignore laws Accuse neighbours of imaginary crimes And gallop around the world like mascots of the Wild West
Conclusion: Superpowers Should Not Do Karaoke
A superpower imitating the behaviour of a besieged state is not strength. It’s insecurity on stilts.
Israel claims it acts out of necessity.
Trump America acts out of theatrics.
Trump’s threats to Nigeria, his swagger in Venezuela, and his selective use of international law all prove one thing:
America under Trump wanted to be a cowboy — but ended up looking like a sheriff who doesn’t know the difference between a horse and a campaign promise.
The world needs stability, not swagger.
It needs diplomacy, not WhatsApp geopolitics.
And above all, it needs America to stop singing Israel’s foreign policy karaoke at full volume.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 