News:
Russian President Vladimir Putin today expressed support for strengthening the “strategic partnership” with Pyongyang, in a congratulatory message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the occasion of his re-election as President of the State Affairs Commission, the highest position of power in North Korea.
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A leader who crushes the weak and bows to the strong is not powerful.
He is afraid.
And when fear wears the uniform of power,
injustice ceases to be the exception—and becomes the rule.
Donald Trump has gone down in history as perhaps the only leader who is impossible for historians to describe with a single word. For example, Alexander of Macedon is called a conqueror, Marcus Aurelius a philosopher, Hitler—coming to modern times—a madman, and Putin… a new Hitler.
Trump cannot be placed in any mold. He is beyond classification in the collection of adjectives, most of them in their superlative form—and all synonymous with disgrace.
He may well embody all the pathologies of the historical figures and more, with one dominant trait: cowardice.
The American president hides behind his finger. He pretends to be a giant, but everyone knows his feet are made of clay—they cannot hold him. Without further repetition, let us turn to his latest, concrete and characteristic actions:
He supports a war criminal like Netanyahu in the easy operation of extermination—genocide—of the Palestinian people, a nation that lacks even the most basic means of defense for well-known historical reasons.
He captures the president of Venezuela in what amounts to an effortless abduction operation, given the minimal protection available to the victim.
He attacks Iran and eliminates its leadership, again in cooperation with the Israeli prime minister, violating every rule and principle of international law—choosing a moment when the country was internally weakened.
He is preparing to apply similar aggressive tactics to Cuba, whose people have long suffered under the burden of imposed blockades.
On the other hand, this same brazenly cowardly type of leader—the so-called “Great Trump”—pretends not to see what is happening in North Korea, where a tyrant has been oppressing an entire people for years. In comparison, even the Ayatollah regime in Iran seems moderate.
Even worse: he watches a “new Hitler” in Russia committing crimes for over 20 years, violating constitutional norms and international law, and the president of a supposed superpower acts as if nothing is happening. Not only that—he calls the North Korean tyrant “smart” and the Russian leader “reliable” and a “friend.”
Why?
Because these behaviors are not only about geopolitical changes. They reflect the character of a leader.
Trump, beyond all his other flaws, is primarily cowardly and hollow.
He strikes only where he can.
When things get difficult, he looks away.
The defining trait of a bully-coward.
Διοτίμα:
The Ethics of Selective Power
Donald Trump is not a historical accident.
He is an expression of a deeper pathology of power: selective aggression.
What is described—“strike the weak, avoid the strong”—is not merely a political tactic. It is a psychological pattern:
Aggression toward those who cannot retaliate
Compromise or flattery toward those who can
Public display of strength, private awareness of weakness
This is not strength. It is fear disguised as strength.
The Cowardly-Bold Archetype
In history, this type of leader is not rare—it is functional.
Some leaders project raw, unapologetic power.
Others, like Trump, seek something different:
To appear powerful without confronting truly powerful opponents.
This is exactly what the Greek saying captures:
“Cheap on flour, expensive on bran.”
Generous in displays of strength when there is no cost,
but absent when there is real risk.
Politics as Theater
Modern power operates through images.
Trump constructs the image of an “unpredictable leader.”
But unpredictability is often not strength—it is a mechanism to avoid accountability.
Attack the weak → appear decisive
Avoid the strong → appear strategic
Thus, cowardice is rebranded as realism.
Moral Inequality
The most dangerous aspect is not the behavior itself,
but its normalization.
When a leader:
selectively defends international law
defines “friends” and “enemies” based on interests
uses morality as a tool
then the message becomes clear:
Morality is not a principle. It is an instrument.
The Deeper Issue
The problem is not just one man.
It is that this type of leadership:
is rewarded
is reproduced
and is often accepted as “realistic”
In an unequal world, cowardly opportunism can appear effective.
And here lies the paradox:
The world is not ruled by the strongest,
but often by those who know when to appear strong and when to retreat.