To the casual observers, President Donald Trump’s suggestion to rename the Strait of Hormuz—and potentially declare it a U.S. territory—is a piece of performance art, a characteristic flourish of hyperbole designed to rattle adversaries in Tehran. But for those of us tracking the structural decay of the post-1945 order, this is not noise; it is a signal. When a head of state proposes to rename a critical global choke point after himself, he is not merely engaging in branding. He is announcing the arrival of the Era of Personalized Sovereignty. We are witnessing the final collapse of the Westphalian system, where borders and names were determined by treaties and recognized states, replaced by a neo-imperialism where geography is treated as a corporate asset. The Signal: Beyond the Punchline The prevailing analysis in the press focuses on the absurdity of the claim or the diplomatic friction it creates with the remaining Gulf allies....