The world is suffering from a dearth of serious leadership

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu with US President Donald Trump at the White House on February 4, 2025. [AFP]

When Donald Trump first rose to the presidency in the United States in 2016, I told a group of friends in my native Funyula, Busia County, that, indeed, the end of the era when the global human population looked up to the so-called elected leaders for wisdom and the how-to of navigating crises was nigh, if not imminent. In his second, non-consecutive term as US President, Trump is proving me right with nearly all of his policy (mis)steps. 

Barely two months after ordering the military invasion and subsequent seizure of Venezuela and its leader, Nicolás Maduro, respectively, Trump and his fellow bully, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—the only world leader to have ladled Washington with cheer following the January assault on Caracas—are presiding over the military bombardment of Iran that has, since February 28, 2026, killed thousands, including the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader (Ayatollah) Ali Khamenei, 86, and an estimated 168 children at a primary school in the country's south, significantly adding to global instability.