Oh for a quiet news day, preferably one when the ‘T’ word passes no TV anchor’s lips! But the new Leader of the Free World is set on taking not only Americans but all of us on the ride of our lives towards a major rearrangement of the world order.
There is indeed a new sheriff in town, one that shoots first and asks questions later, illustrated by the chaotic roll-out of the temporary travel ban affecting citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries that’s being subjected to legal challenges on the grounds of constitutionality.
Americans who voted for the reality star were desperate for change and that’s exactly what they’re getting. It’s hard to figure out what’s worse. Former president Barack Obama’s broken campaign pledges or the more outlandish from the lips of candidate Donald Trump, which as president he’s rushing to implement.
Amid a backdrop of daily controversies and shocks, political and social divides are deepening within America as the country’s closest allies look on, many of them dismayed, perplexed or confused.
In just a few weeks of the president’s daily tweets and statements, Mexicans are burning his effigy and boycotting US companies, Jews are upset at the White House’s erasing of Jews from the State Department’s “Holocaust Memorial” statement and the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was grilled on reports that his first phone conversation with Trump was so heated it was brought to an abrupt premature end.
International institutions and organisations consolidated in the aftermath of the Second World War to uphold liberal democratic values are being undermined. America’s allies within the UN have been intimidated by a warning from the new US ambassador who said support America else she “will take names.” Further, it’s been widely reported that the White House is preparing executive orders designed to reduce its commitment to UN funding.
NATO is also on the president’s shake-up list. He’s softened his stance since he blasted the organisation as being ‘obsolete’ but still complains that a number of member states are riding on Uncle Sam’s financial coattails. British Prime Minister Theresa May used her influence during her recent visit to the White House to extract a commitment to NATO from her grudging host while urging Britain’s NATO partners to keep to their two per cent of GDP obligations.
The EU isn’t getting off so lightly. Trump has not only encouraged the UK to go it alone, he’s been quoted as saying he couldn’t care less if it’s dissolved. That of course is music to the ears of right-wing nationalistic EU-sceptic politicians in France, Holland and Germany, all basking in growing popularity with their eyes on the top jobs. Britain’s planned divorce from the EU with a new bridegroom waiting in the wings, combined with the populist embrace of European citizens, is seen by Brussels as an existential threat to the Union’s very foundations. If the EU disintegrates, Trump could have a mini ‘me’ installed in several major European capitals. The slogan “America First” will be echoed by “Britain First,” “France First” and so on; allies only when interests happen to collide.
Future of EU-US relations
If each country exchanges mutual respect and cooperation for muscle-flexing belligerence, we can expect the biggest to swallow the weakest. If history is any predicator of the future, the outcome will surely be war sooner or later.
At a recent EU summit held in Malta, French President Francois Hollande condemned Trump’s interference in EU affairs, warning that the future of EU-US relations was at stake. In response to a comment by the US ambassador to Brussels Ted Malloch to the effect he planned to “tame” the EU, it caused uproar in the European Parliament. President of the European Council Donald Tusk has categorised the US as “a threat.”
If America’s staunchest partners are troubled by the US president’s rhetoric, what about its rivals and adversaries? Russian President Vladimir Putin is quietly waiting to see if he’s about to be jilted. The fledgling bromance is being knocked on the head over an upsurge of hostilities between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Cracks are also forming with relation to Trump’s insistence on ‘safe zones’ in Syria and his stance towards Moscow’s ally Tehran that’s been slapped with further US sanctions.
China is being hammered by senior US officials, including Secretary of Defence ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis because of its dispute with Japan over the sovereignty of sand spits turned into manmade islands in the South China Sea—and Beijing is biting back. Trump has spent his first weeks in Washington disturbing calm waters with giant pebbles and, as everyone knows, there will be ripples, many with unpredictable outcomes. At this juncture, how damaging they may turn out to be is anyone’s guess.
Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
I tend to think that politics is an expression of historical socio-economic forces rather than personalities or electoral whims. Reshaping the world’s consensus and geopolitical status quo even on the level of how it is perceived seems monumental and must therefore have a material foundation. Current technology means that cheap Asian labour can be replaced by robots. Resources of oil in the USA and in Russia mean that the Middle East is less vital than previously. Islam is a cultural drag on modernity and the valueless consumption it promotes. If China and Russia think they can build a new integrated Asia the USA can show them how easy it is to destroy any and every attempt they make. Unless they accept US dominance. The West wants to eradicate Islam now. Explicitly racist international ruthlessness dividing the domestic consensus creates a frisson which allows political manipulation to be more obviously dogmatic and unreal. We woke up to the realisation that we live in a madhouse and we are going to war. The challenge Trump throws at us is. What are you going to do about that? Be afraid right. Terror will teach people to fear everyone globally and each other locally.