Today marks the end of an era. The geopolitical legacy of the 1980s has now disappeared. Today the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between Russia and the United States expires, with nothing left in its place. Some are predicting that this could set off another nuclear arms race that could see all the nuclear powers beefing up their nuclear arsenal, while other countries decide it is time for them to join the nuclear club.

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Today marks the end of the first year of Donald Trump's second term in office. One down, three to go.

Looking back, the most notable thing about Trump's first year back was how he has thrown himself fully into the Silicon Valley maxim to "move fast and break things." Trump has indeed moved fast, and he has indeed broken many things -- some of which will take a very long time to put back together and some of which may just stay broken forever.

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Welcome back to the second of our year-end awards columns! And if you missed it last Friday, go check out [Part 1] as well.

This article is mind-bendingly long enough, so we're not going to bother with any other introductory words at all. Instead, let's just get right to the awards, shall we?

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Welcome to our annual year-end awards! As always, we honor the memory of The McLaughlin show with our categories, and we want to thank the readers who responded to our calls for nominees for them all.

Also as always, it is long. Really, really, insanely long. You have been warned!

And also as always, we'll be back again next Friday for [Part 2].

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If there's one thing I will be thankful for this year, it is the fact that Republicans are increasingly "in disarray." More and more, the various factions within the party are at each other's throats, which should just prove to make it that much easier for Democrats to wrest back control in next year's midterm elections. For which I am thankful.

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So, let's review, shall we? Last weekend, seven million Americans took to the streets to protest Donald Trump, in the biggest political protest this country has ever seen. The theme of the protest was: "No Kings!" So this week, Trump responded by acting in what can only be described as kingly fashion, in as many ways as he could dream up -- including a rushed demolition of one-third of the White House, without consulting anyone or even attempting to get anyone's permission. He sent the demolition crews in, and within a few days the entire East Wing was nothing more than a pile of rubble. All because a royal decree had been issued.

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Finally -- after way too long spent grovelling on the world stage -- Donald Trump didn't chicken out. For the first time in the nine months he has been in office, Trump actually moved to punish Russia. Hopefully, this represents a shift in his thinking that will be hard for him to easily reverse. Because for the first time, Trump is no longer acting like Vladimir Putin's lapdog.

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Donald Trump now seems to now be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Russia's Vladimir Putin. That's an extraordinary thing to say, but it is the inescapable conclusion to what the world has witnessed over the past week. Trump started off firmly on the side of Ukraine, musing about allowing European countries to provide American-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, which could strike deep within Russian territory. But by week's end, he had essentially become the chief negotiator for the Russians, trying to force the Ukrainian leader into the exact terms dictated by Putin.

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Donald Trump is doing a victory lap in Israel and the Middle East, as all the hostages held by Hamas are released in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire has taken hold, and although this is just a first step it is indeed a big one. There's no guarantee the war is over -- the ceasefire could end and Israel could continue their attacks, if no agreement can be reached over the ultimate status of Hamas, but at least if the war does eventually continue it will do so without hostages being at the heart of it. Which is definite progress.

But there is another war still raging, and there are developments with regard to Ukraine and Russia that are worth discussing, so while everyone else is reporting on the Middle East I thought it'd be a good time to take a look at where things stand.

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The United States of America now seems to have officially become a banana republic. That's really the only conclusion one can draw, after the events of the past week (and the past eight months, for good measure).

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