America has many allies. Maybe too many

The United States is picking up new allies everywhere. Kenya just became its 19th so-called “major non-Nato ally”, a status that gives the country privileges in military procurement and cooperation but stops short of explicit security guarantees. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has reason to hope for the full monty, as it closes in on a mutual defence pact with Washington.

Those partnerships follow Sweden

joining Nato as its 32nd member

in 2024, and Finland as the 31st the year before. And in the Indo-Pacific the US is constructing new geometries among allies such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines – into “trilaterals”, “quads” and other configurations, some with names (Aukus, I2U2) that sound like characters in Star Wars sequels.