By Thierry Meyssan
Voltairenet.org
January 22, 2026
The world is changing very quickly. The year 2026 is expected to be marked by the return of spheres of influence and the end of colonial empires. Above all, it will see the return of international law to the rules we have known until now. Only those who are able to understand these developments and adapt to them quickly will continue to thrive.
We are witnessing a reorganization of the world order following the Anchorage summit (August 15, 2025), the ceasefire in Gaza (October 10, 2025), and Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela (January 3, 2026). It is now clear that Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin divided the world between them in Alaska. The final ratification of this arrangement will take place at the next Trump-Xi summit.
The only information we have is the map published by the Russian General Staff and produced by Andrei Martyanov. It divides the world into three zones of influence, which does not contradict the principle of a multipolar world. Early international law-I mean pre-Cold War law-only addresses a few problems. It grants states complete freedom to do as they please within the limits they themselves have set.
I explained in my last column that, contrary to what everyone is saying, while the United States may have committed a crime by abducting President Maduro, according to previous rules, they were within their rights to do so, based solely on their commitments. Whether or not this reality is shocking changes nothing. This is now how we must operate.
Until now, the world was governed by the G5/6/7/8/7, yesterday composed of Germany, Canada, France, the United States, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Its disappearance marks the end of the English and French Empires. We must admit that France will have to decolonize New Caledonia and Polynesia; the United States will have to decolonize Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands; New Zealand will have to decolonize Tokelau; and finally, the United Kingdom will have to decolonize Angilla, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman and Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Saint Helena, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
This will have to be done very quickly if France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom wish to maintain a presence in their former colonies.
It is likely that the Commonwealth will disintegrate. Its member states will, at the very least, abandon their shared citizenship.
The G7 will be replaced by a C4/5 group composed of China, the United States, India, and Russia, to which President Trump hopes to add Japan [1]. However, it is likely that Japan will not be admitted, given its bellicose statements. China remains incensed by the rise of Japanese imperial militarism, the denialism of the government of Sanae Takaichi, its views on Taiwanese microprocessors, and its rare earth exploration.
Given their respective power, the four major world powers will be able to decide to do whatever they want in all cases not governed by international law - as the United States did in Venezuela.
Several regional alliances will allow secondary powers to play an important role.
I won't talk about NATO, which will be dissolved by mid-2027, or sooner if the transfer of Greenland from Denmark to the US allows. The admonitions of a few Europeans won't change anything: they won't wage war on the United States any more than they will on Russia.
The AUKUS Alliance (Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom) will also not survive the division of the world.
The EU should also disappear. Ursula von der Leyen's appearance at the signing ceremony of the EU/Mercosur free trade agreement only hastens its downfall: the people of France, Poland, Austria, Ireland, and Hungary have just realized that this bureaucracy does not defend their interests, but sacrifices their farmers to the needs of German industry.
Several organizations will take over: the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), a British mini-NATO, already includes Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands, all centered around the United Kingdom. Ukraine will join, while Iceland will join the United States (after the cession of Greenland). Indeed, Canada and Greenland are located on the American continental shelf, as is part of Iceland, which understandably gives the United States an appetite for it.
For their part, Bulgaria, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden have already formed an "Eastern Front Alliance." It is uncertain whether this new organization will be permanent, as it currently has neither a budget nor a secretariat.
These military alliances will be complemented by political coalitions, just as the EU complemented NATO. The Three Seas Initiative is the main one. It brings together Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic. It aims to reform the medieval Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or Marshal Józef Piłsudski's Międzymorze Federation project: to create a federation between Germany and Russia.
It is a Polish project, led by President Karol Nawrocki (Law and Justice), while the Eastern Front Alliance is a project led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk (Civic Coalition).
In the Middle East, the Saudi Arabia/Iran rivalry ended with China's mediation in 2023. It has been replaced by a Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates rivalry, which has already manifested itself in Yemen and Sudan. Those who, just four years ago, were the best of friends are now bitter rivals.
Riyadh is attempting to rally support behind itself, along with Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Somalia.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi, which has already forged military alliances with Sudanese, Libyan, and Somali factions, is expected to move closer to Israel and bring Ethiopia into its fold.
In Africa, the Alliance of Sahel States, composed of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, is the only regional military alliance. It should be encouraged by China and Russia.
In Latin America, the Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) is no longer functioning. On the contrary, a coalition is forming around Argentina and Chile with the support of the United States.
China, India, and Russia want to preserve the United Nations. As a result, President Trump has decided against leaving the glass building. It's crucial to understand that much of what the UN has built will be dismantled to bring it into line with international law. Because, contrary to what we've led ourselves to believe, the United Nations is not international law.
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[1 ] " Trump's C-5: a maneuver to bring the United States into the BRICS? ", by Alfredo Jalife-Rahme, Translation Maria Poumier, La Jornada (Mexico), Voltaire Network, December 19, 2025.
Source: " The Reorganization of the World," by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, January 20, 2026.
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