It has been a bellicose start to 2026, with the US army kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and threatening to annex Greenland, putting many more nations, including Mexico and Colombia, on high alert.

On Downstream this week is investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, who’s best known for helping Edward Snowden’s disclosures about the NSA’s global surveillance program come to light, as well as investigations that led to Brazilian president Lula’s release from prison.

He sat down in his Rio De Janeiro studio to speak to Aaron Bastani about the differences in Trump 2.0’s foreign policy, how the last year has seen unprecedented corporate consolidation of media and whether the US empire is flexing a novel expansionist ambition or if the lashing out of the last week is a sign of decline.