An American raid in Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro hauled into a Manhattan courtroom. Open talk in Washington of annexing Greenland. A Russian flagged tanker seized in the freezing North Atlantic. And as the great powers flex their muscles, Iran edges towards what could become a full blown uprising.

So what on earth is going on?

At the heart of this extraordinary week lies a simple but dangerous truth. The transatlantic alliance is under more strain than at any moment since the Cold War. And for the first time in NATO’s history, the unthinkable is being whispered. What happens if allies collide?

Roland speaks to Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commander of US Army forces in Europe, about how NATO has survived bitter internal disputes before and whether it can survive this one.

And former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe explains what really happened in the Greenland Iceland UK gap, what was on board the seized tanker, and why this matters for the laws of the sea.

Picture credit: Katie Miller/X, Alex Wong/Getty Images

Read David Blair's analysis: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/01/06/usa-donald-trump-take-greenland-collapse-nato/

Producer: Peter Shevlin

Executive Producer: Louisa Wells

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