A year into the Trump presidency, and the administration’s “abrogation” of international leadership has underscored one thing: Just how important America remains to the rest of the world, argues Fred Kaplan for Slate.
“[R]ather than shrug, adjust, and move along, most of the world’s leaders—at least those aligned with the global order that the United States helped create—have reacted to Trump’s hostile insularity with dismay and alarm,” Kaplan writes.
“For better or worse, there is no country or set of countries, other than the United States, that has the resources, breadth of interests, or experience necessary to preserve and protect the global order. By squandering those resources, disavowing those interests, and decimating the ranks of diplomats and bureaucrats who have built up that experience, Trump threatens to implode that order.”
“Throughout our history, even advocates of realpolitik—a foreign policy built strictly on the pursuit of vital interests and a balance of power—have acknowledged that, in the competition for influence, America gains an advantage from the appeal of its ideals. George Kennan, the architect of our Cold War containment policy, scorned those who wanted to chase demons around the globe, but he wrote that we would ultimately triumph over the Soviet Union if we stayed true to our ideals domestically, as they would long outlast the Soviets’ ideals.”
Says who? Actually, the world is getting on fine without US leadership – and that will be true no matter who is president, argues Parag Khanna for Politico EU.
“Especially after Brexit, Europe is refocused on pooling its economic and strategic assets and is parting ways with the U.S. on how to move forward with Russia, Iran and China. In these critical cases, Europe favors engagement to the American approach of containment. Europeans aren’t focused on building ties with Asia because of Trump but because their annual trade with Asia’s major economies is nearly $500 billion more than their trade with America — a trend that long predates Trump,” Khanna writes.
“[E]ven if America recovers its economic dynamism and social cohesion, why would this stop Europeans and Asians, Arabs and Africans, from aggressively pursuing their own visions for their future? Should they suddenly follow the next American president’s lead just because he or she isn’t Donald Trump?”
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“[R]ather than shrug, adjust, and move along, most of the world’s leaders—at least those aligned with the global order that the United States helped create—have reacted to Trump’s hostile insularity with dismay and alarm,” Kaplan writes.
“For better or worse, there is no country or set of countries, other than the United States, that has the resources, breadth of interests, or experience necessary to preserve and protect the global order. By squandering those resources, disavowing those interests, and decimating the ranks of diplomats and bureaucrats who have built up that experience, Trump threatens to implode that order.”
“Throughout our history, even advocates of realpolitik—a foreign policy built strictly on the pursuit of vital interests and a balance of power—have acknowledged that, in the competition for influence, America gains an advantage from the appeal of its ideals. George Kennan, the architect of our Cold War containment policy, scorned those who wanted to chase demons around the globe, but he wrote that we would ultimately triumph over the Soviet Union if we stayed true to our ideals domestically, as they would long outlast the Soviets’ ideals.”
Says who? Actually, the world is getting on fine without US leadership – and that will be true no matter who is president, argues Parag Khanna for Politico EU.
“Especially after Brexit, Europe is refocused on pooling its economic and strategic assets and is parting ways with the U.S. on how to move forward with Russia, Iran and China. In these critical cases, Europe favors engagement to the American approach of containment. Europeans aren’t focused on building ties with Asia because of Trump but because their annual trade with Asia’s major economies is nearly $500 billion more than their trade with America — a trend that long predates Trump,” Khanna writes.
“[E]ven if America recovers its economic dynamism and social cohesion, why would this stop Europeans and Asians, Arabs and Africans, from aggressively pursuing their own visions for their future? Should they suddenly follow the next American president’s lead just because he or she isn’t Donald Trump?”
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