Beware the Ides of March? 2025 Is Already Off the Rails
Don't ask questions later - get answers now
It’s barely mid-March, and 2025 is already delivering a level of disruption that makes most previous years look tame. We’re not just living through history —we’re slamming into it headfirst, at breakneck speed, and in shocking ways.
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As we approach the dreaded Ides of March (the 15th of the month, associated with the assassination of Julius Caesar), let’s take a quick survey of the madness that the year has visited upon the unsuspecting news consumer:
Donald Trump has suggested that the US should buy Gaza, will get Greenland "one way or another" as well as the Panama Canal, ignited a new trade war, floated the annexation of Canada, and hired the world’s richest weirdo (who also happens to be the world’s richest man) to fire tens of thousands of federal employees. And that’s just one country.
Romania’s leading presidential candidate was arrested after winning the first round of elections with the assistance of Russian bots, showing that Putin is determined to mess with all his neighbors. Look for the Moldovan election in a few months; Russia is sowing chaos with energy sabotage.
Germany’s most successful far-right party since World War II just had a record-breaking result after the the US basically endorsed them. And don’t be fooled by Friedrich Merz’s lack of flair: The Europeans are about to try to build an independent defense, give the American abdication.
China’s DeepSeek has upended the AI market, throwing Silicon Valley into full-blown panic mode. And it will soon dominate the renewable energy market and have just been given a monumental soft-power gift the US abdication of 80 years of global leadership of the free world.
The sheer volume and velocity of world-shaking events is enough to leave anyone disoriented — and at times like these, you don’t just need news. You need analysis — to perceive the bigger picture. You need to connect the dots.
That’s where Ask Questions Later comes in. Dan Perry and friends, building on decades of global journalism, explore what’s happening behind the headlines. Are we witnessing random chaos—or something more deliberate, orchestrated, and inevitable? Could there be forces at work that do not readily meet the eye? Stay ahead of the curve and over the paywalls — subscribe now. In times like these, asking questions later might be too late.
A few highlights from our coverage so far in 2025:
The New Autocracy
Ask Questions Later delved into a pressing global phenomenon: the rise of autocracy and the decline of liberal democracies. "The New Autocracy" series explored the mechanisms by which autocrats consolidate power, the societal factors that enable their endurance, and the broader implications for democratic systems worldwide. The journey began with A Christmas Tale, the grim story of Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator whose rule ended with several bangs on Christmas Day in 1989. From there, we shifted to a broader context with “The End of the End of History,” an examination of Francis Fukuyama’s 35-year-old assessment that we are approaching an era where liberal democracy reigns supreme. The third installment, An Example to Megalomaniacs, discussed the mania of entrenched leaders like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, whose prolonged rule often fosters corruption and societal division. We threw some faint praise at Canada’s Justin Trudeau, who at least knew when to go (that week). The final installment — Why Are There Dictators? — explored the societal and psychological dynamics that allow dictatorships to persist. How can it be that these people — generally vile criminals — survive another day?
Talking Trump and Musk with Grok
Elon Musk was Ask Questions Later’s 2024 Person of the Year, so we are under no suspicion of underappreciating his impact. He has validated our selection in the first several months of the year, when he organized for himself the most astounding unofficial appointment in the history of the Republic. He also has given the world Grok, the AI chatbot developed by his X.AI startup (which gets part of its data from X itself, not just from mainstream media). Because it is supposedly unbiased and unfiltered, Musk has called it “the most fun AI in the world.” We like fun, so we asked it some fun questions. the answers were fun as well, but not at all funny.
Is Britain Falling Apart?
Noted Prof. Glen O’Hara examined the question. From the outside, Britain must seem shrouded in a great fog of gloom. Even when the clouds part, an angry and divided place comes into focus. Economic growth is slow, in part because of a Brexit from the European Union that the electorate now deeply regrets, and public services are crumbling. The headlines are full of “grooming gangs” organizing the rape of minors; last summer’s riots are echoing through state and society; the Government is unpopular while the Opposition, split and disliked, is hardly any better. But is it so?
A Completely Pointless Tariff War
If I were the president of the United States and secretly in the pay of an enemy power like Russia, China, or Iran, what would I do? That’s right! I would start a tariff war for no conceivable reason. Tariffs are among the most studied of economic tools, and the history is clear: They can sometimes be effective if part of a carefully structured, long-term industrial policy — but broad, unfocused tariff wars do mostly harm. Tariffs work in specific and temporary circumstances that don’t currently prevail.
Germany’s Election Results Reveal a Nation Still Divided
The most striking aspect of the recent German election was not the numbers but the map. A district-by-district breakdown of the vote produces something that looks exactly like Cold War-era Germany. Almost every district of the former East Germany gave pluralities to the AfD, with its neo-Nazi roots, while the former West Germany overwhelmingly supported the mainstream. We examine why, and what it means.
Dear Palestinians: Statehood is Not a Right
Telling the Palestinians that national self-determination is a natural right of all peoples is a lie. According to studies, there are over 10,000 identifiable ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious groups in the world (and according to the UN, indigenous peoples alone account for approximately 5,000 distinct cultures). Many of them far more distinctive than the Palestinians, who are scarcely different from Sunni Lebanese or Syrians (indeed, until the creation of Israel there was no reference to a Palestinian people). And yet, there are only about 200 recognized countries. We do not live in a world of thousands of microstates. It would be great for the Palestinians to break off from Israel, but only a few groups achieve statehood; it needs power, will, cleverness, geography, circumstances, and luck.
The Art of The Sellout
This is Europe’s defining moment. If it does not defend Ukraine, it will be defending itself soon enough. Even then, Trump should not be counted upon. He will try to extort future rights to champagne, or seize North Sea oil, or demand that Europe take America’s immigrants and pay for their transport too. There are no limits. Limits were so 20th century.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Sanctioned by US
War crimes expert Chris Stephen continues his stellar reporting for AQL, revealing how the US Treasury’s sanctioning of the troubled chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan (as foreseen on these pages two months ago), is part of a major narrative arc.