Joe Biden will replace the Trump Clown Show with competent professionals. But, Tony Burman writes, the world has changed a great deal since the advent of Trump -- for several reasons:
1.The United States Is Much Weaker
The damage inflicted on the United States by the Trump presidency is virtually incalculable. By the time he leaves office in January, more than 400,000 Americans will be dead from the pandemic. The economy is in shambles and the key democratic institutions — such as the legal system, news media and public service — have been savaged. The country is also horribly polarized, with the majority of Republicans believing Trump’s nonsense that the election was stolen from him. That is the America over which a new President Biden will preside.
2. It's Not the Same World
Since 2016, the American reputation in the world has declined dramatically. Rather than being seen as “the shining city on the hill” — as Ronald Reagan once described it — the U.S. is now viewed by many as a failed state. In many parts of the world, the dictators of China and Russia — Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin — are now “more trusted” than the U.S. president. Even the fabled U.S. medical system is now viewed by many with disbelief as its horrific pandemic death toll climbs.
3. Europe Is Divided
There are divisions in Europe about how close an embrace there should be to the Americans now. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is pushing for European “strategic autonomy” that would be more independent in military and industrial terms. Germany, in contrast, wants to resume the close relations of the past. The question is how trustworthy the United States is anymore.
4. The Problems Are Tougher to Solve
The U.S. will rejoin the Paris climate treaty, the World Health Organization and UNESCO and it will revive the nuclear agreement with Iran. But it will take considerable resolve to solve other issues. There is the need for the U.S. to end its role in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, to make sense of the farcical Trump approach to North and South Korea, and to deal with Russia. And the list goes on.
5. China Is A Force to Be Reckoned With
There is no country that has benefited more from the disastrous Trump years than China. Although the U.S. president and his acolytes were bellicose in their anti-China rhetoric, their actions accomplished nothing — except to strengthen China’s position. By weakening western alliances, abandoning America’s traditional allies in Asia and withdrawing the U.S. from any effective global engagement, Trump allowed the Chinese government to increase its power abroad and smother human rights and democracy in its own country. China, therefore, is far more of a dangerous rival to the U.S. than it was when Trump took over.
Throughout his life, Donald Trump has been a wrecking ball. During the last four years, he has set out to wreak havoc on the world. Rebuilding from the rubble he has left behind will not be easy.
Image: slate.com
10 comments:
While Burman has some good points I think he is missing the effects of US foreign policies over the last 20 or 30 years that have helped do massive damage.
If we go back to the reunification of Germany Mikhail Gorbachev was assured by NATO/US that NATO would not extend eastward past the "new" German borders. NATO now has troops stationed in Estonia about 150km from St. Petersburg. And bizarrely enough, at the height of the Ukrainian "Maidan" uprising the USA seems to have had a 'Request of Proposal" to renovate a school in Sevastopal.
Also it was Obama who initiated the pivot to the pacific that basically seemed to state that there was an undeclared state of hostility between the USA and China.
I like the saying
Cet animal est très méchant,
Quand on l'attaque il se défend.
This animal is very bad; when you attack it, it defends itself.
Before that Qbama & Clinton with Sarkozy's avid support, turned a no-fly zone in Libya into a bombing campaign that produced a failed state.
Before that, the Bush boys, father and son, showed a distressing willingness to invade countries on a whim---Granada, Panama, Afghanistan, Iraq.
Trump has more spectacularly shown by his willingness to cancel agreements, throw around sanctions and tariffs like confetti and withdraw from international organizations that the USA is totally unreliable but I think most countries were aware of the basic problems long before his arrival.
BTW Burman says
Trump allowed the Chinese government ... smother human rights and democracy in its own country.
I must have missed this. I really have not read about any massive crackdowns across the breadth of China. China has never had a Western-style democracy. The Xinjiang situatian is another and nastier situation.
The only possible suppression oof democracy seems Hong Kong and even there the democratically elected council is still sitting albeit under some beady-eyed security types. They do have a security law that seems a bit like US legislation.
The nastiness predates Trump, jrk. He is the latest and most virulent example of the Ugly American. That said, Biden's people have a much better grasp on the rest of the world than Trump's grifters ever did.
It will take time to rid US government departments of Trumps appointments and even longer to weed out their appointments thus Trumps influence will last for some time.
Biden is likely to try appease republican voters and is unlikely to totally change back to Obama like governance.
It will be a rough ride for Americans but we, Canadians, must do our best to steer clear of their influence particularly foreign policy as the US will still be joined at the hip with Israel.
TB
The assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is not a good omen. Who cooked up this one? There was a "not-so-secret meeting last week in Saudi Arabia between the Saudi foreign minister and Israeli prime minister."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-55111064
What we have all wondered is what would Trump do between the election and Biden's inauguration. Is he stirring up a crisis?
Since the founding of this country, TB, we have always tried to steer clear of what Americans see as their Manifest Destiny. I suspect we will always have to try to keep the United States at bay.
I suspect he is, Toby. He'll do whatever he can to make Biden's time in office a failure.
JK on the Rideau has a selective memory on the subject of China. Burman's criticism focuses on the double scourge of a. democracy, and b. human rights. Of the two, China's brutal suppression of human rights looms largest. Think Tibet where the conquered people are now under Beijing's boot. China is now blending the native Tibetan population by settling Han Chinese into the region. Human rights? Forget it. Then there are the 12 million Muslim Uighurs. China's expansionism extends into the South China Sea through the creation of man-made instant "islands." These are really no more than military outposts to menace every other nation in the region with maritime claims to parts of a sea China contends is exclusively its own.
Obama's "pivot" was inevitable in these circumstances. It's what any hegemon would do. China has the neighbourhood in a state of anxiety. These are America's allies. From Uttar Pradesh to the Spratleys, China is territorially aggressive.
JKR's recollection of the Gorbachev deal is likewise inaccurate. The "deal" was struck in private between Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush. It concerned East Germany and the unification. Bush insisted that the east, upon unification, would become part of NATO. Gorbie wanted it a neutral buffer state instead. The dispute was settled on Bush's promise that NATO would stop its eastward expansion at the unified German border. Gorbachev's failure was in taking Bush's promises at face value. He ought to have insisted on a formal agreement with NATO and the EU. None of that transpired.
I'm a bit more optimistic than TB on Biden's chances of disinfecting the executive branch. Trump's handmaidens were anything but subtle and I doubt there'll be many stay-behind agents out to subvert Biden. This brings to mind a discussion between Obama and Trump prior to the 2017 inauguration. Obama was floored when Trump revealed that he assumed his administration would just inherit the Obama staff. Obama had to break it to Trump that the last thing he wanted was to have loyalists to a former administration wielding power. It was the first Trump knew he needed to hire his own people. The end result was a great turnover in Trump's West Wing, especially in the early years. Think Scaramucci. Trump got so weary of nominating key aides and then campaigning for their confirmation that, wherever possible, he instead appointed "acting" officials that would circumvent congressional scrutiny and approval.
As for Toby's concerns you would have to believe in unicorns not to see that the assassination and its timing were clearly orchestrated by the election outcome. Netanyahu is stirring the pot, hoping he can make it boil over before Trump is escorted out the door. Most world leaders have a pretty good idea how to play Trump.
That's precisely the problem, Mound. All of Trump's buttons are on display. And they're so easy to push.
. All of Trump's buttons are on display.
And those of the US public!
There has been a sea change in the US where all the dirty washing hs been put on display for the world to see.
Never again will the US be trusted.
Beware of Sam Slick the American trader.
TB
The myth has been exposed, TB. The shining city on the hill looks pretty grubby.
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