Threat and diplomacy both, yeah. Leader of the free world is a title we used to wear, for good or ill. On a side note, Israel is what we raised them to be. The most colonial of the colonialists backed them and still are. Britain just sent them more weapons. Tempered by Abrahamic religion and modern tech, ofc Israel is even more violent.

It’s complex, but the base element is there’s a hole where the USA once stood. And the example of leadership is now no longer normal, but an impulsive fuck with two middle fingers in the air saying “I do what I want.” Not FDR, or Kennedy, or even Obama, but the impulsive fuck who can’t even ring the stock exchange bell outside the paradigm of a 7 year old. There’s permissiveness in that.