Last week, the leader of the world's largest democracy unilaterally redrew borders in a territory that lies at the heart of a dispute with the country's two nuclear-armed neighbors. Meanwhile, the leader of a once-almighty global power could pull an electoral stunt within the next 11 weeks that drives his land into constitutional and economic bedlam. And in less than 17 months, voters in the world's longest-living modern democracy will decide whether a presidential record of global trade wars, stressed alliances and thick-skinned immigration and environmental policies deserves a renewed mandate. Despite being explicit in their rhetoric, the actual actions of latter-day populist-nationalists still seem to shock and awe even the most seasoned observers among us.