Klaus Dodds

Donald Trump’s quest for regime change in Iran has backfired horribly. The president misunderstood the resilience of the 47-year-old Islamic Republic of Iran, the strategic calculations of one-time ally Israel and the physical and political geography of the Strait of Hormuz. Vice President J.D. Vance appears now to be positioned as the public face of failure. The decision to launch the assault on Iran was underpinned by Israeli confidence that Iran’s leadership could be toppled and that the United States’ overwhelming firepower would produce shock and awe. It came in the immediate aftermath of plans to acquire Greenland, incorporate Canada, assert dominance over the Panama Canal and topple the then Venezuelan government. Cuba is no doubt next on Trump's list.

In the 19th century, the geographer and explorer David Livingstone was scathing of what he described as 'easy chair geographers' – authors and mapmakers who produced maps and treatises about the non-European world without ever leaving their learned society or personal office. Donald Trump is a latter-day armchair geographer. Or judging by photographs repeatedly released by the White House, a president comfortable convening meetings in the Oval Office with large maps displayed by his desk. But whether it is a case of acquiring Greenland or blockading the Strait of Hormuz, maps can be poor substitutes for in-field knowledge and understanding.

With world attention focused on the US-Israel assault on Iran, US Secretary of War Peter Hegseth delivered a speech last week at the inaugural Americas Counter Cartel Conference in Florida. Hosted in a part of Miami that shares its name with an addictive benzodiazepine (Doral), the event on 5 March brought together 17 'American' countries who were urged to sign a joint declaration on the need for direct action against criminal cartels. Notable drug-affected countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico were not present. Hegseth was clear that if those countries lacked the resolve to tackle the drugs menace head on, the US was prepared to go it alone.

Donald Trump is playing hemispheric monopoly. Depending on what day of the week it is, the President's focus alternates between Venezuela, Canada, the Panama canal – and for the last twelve months or so, Greenland. Given what Trump and his team have said over the past week, their acquisition plans for the island are well advanced. But why exactly does he want Greenland? The world’s largest island is an integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark and is about three times larger than Texas. While the term du jour is geopolitics, perhaps the most plausible reason for why Trump is gunning for Greenland is ego-politics. We have a president eager to make America great again and complete the task that his predecessor President Monroe started some 200 years ago.

Krill – the small, shrimp-like crustacean – is a keystone species. It underpins the marine ecosystem of the Southern Ocean, where it is estimated that between 300 and 500 million tonnes of them live. They are consumed by marine animals, including whales, seals and penguins, as well as fish and squid. But is krill now at risk of being overfished? And are the warnings of conservationists being ignored by countries more interested in making a quick profit? Nowadays, krill features in dietary supplements, livestock food and pet food. It is also processed to produce fish food for use in aquariums and aquacultures. The global krill industry was valued at well over $1 billion (£750 million) last year and is forecast to grow in the next five years to around $2.5 to 3 billion (£1.