Less-than-super power
WE’RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT WHAT A WORLD WITHOUT U. S. LEADERSHIP LOOKS LIKE
At one point last week, The New York Times had no fewer than 15 articles about Donald Trump on the front page of its digital edition.
That was nothing. CNN is so deeply obsessed with the Trump administration that it upbraided rival Fox News for finding the time to report on anything else. Referring to the indictment of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, CNN noted caustically that “in contrast with CNN and MSNBC, which aired non- stop rolling coverage throughout the day, Fox News found plenty of time to cover other topics, like the NFL protests, North Korea, and tax reform.”
Jeez, North Korea and tax reform, who could possibly care about any of that? Crazed dictator in rogue country threatens to set off a nuclear conflagration … you call that news? Get with it Fox, we’re talking Trump here. Scandal, outrage, web hits … big ratings!
CNN did have a point: it’s true that the White House seems capable of producing an endless supply of juicy new lunacies, and the deeper it tumbles into imbecility, the less enthusiastic Fox is about coming to its defence. Yet it nonetheless seems odd that a network supposedly dedicated to news would object to anyone covering it.
To a large extent, the news outlets were reflecting the current reality in Washington. The Trump administration has proved astonishingly ineffective at much of anything, including all its major promises. It still displays little understanding of how Congress works, much less the rest of the world. So if the government is largely sitting out world events, why should purveyors of news be any different?
Not that the world is waiting for it. China’s President Xi Jinping recently completed his remarkable consolidation of power, elevating himself to a position just short of one- man rule, up there with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Deng brought capitalism to communist China; Xi has a plan to spread China’s version of it — the “Belt and Road Initiative” — far and wide across the planet. The Economist recently anointed him “the world’s most powerful man.” They used to reserve that title for the president of the United States.
Saudi Arabia also isn’ t standing around i dly. A 32- year- old princeling, until a few months ago just another in the vast army of Saudi royals, launched a vast purge of the ruling clan’s upper ranks over the weekend, securing the crown for himself — he hopes — once his father, King Salman, sees fit to give it up. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was also put in charge of a new commission on corruption, raising the prospect of further arrests as he locks down control of the world’s biggest oil-producing nation.
The Saudis feel they are surrounded by danger. Syria is in chaos. ISIL has been driven from its “caliphate,” but no one believes it has disappeared as a force for terror or disorder. Russia and Iran have successfully expanded their influence. War continues in Yemen; on Saturday, Saudi forces intercepted a ballistic missile from Yemen fired towards the capital, claiming Iran was behind it.
As these events were taking place, Donald Trump was on Air Force One headed for Japan, the start of a fivecountry trip supposedly intended to demonstrate the U. S. can still flex a muscle or two when it sees fit. He golfed with the Japanese prime minister, fed some fish, addressed some troops, bragged about the great job he’s doing despite crumbling approval ratings, and waved a fist towards North Korea.
“No one — no dictator, no regime and no nation — should underestimate, ever, American resolve,” he declared, wearing the requisite bomber jacket, just like the one George W. Bush donned to celebrate America’s invasion of Iraq, which hasn’t turned out so great. As usual, his bombast exceeded his actions. Washington’s policy on North Korea amounts to pestering China to “do something” about its troublesome neighbour. Trump revealed he’d also like to see some assistance from Moscow. “We want Putin’s help on North Korea,” he said.
That would be rich. Even as his administration sinks beneath the weight of an ever- growing inquiry into Russian influence, and evidence that Moscow did its best to undermine the U. S. election by whatever means available, Trump thinks it’s a fine time to ask the Russian autocrat — whom he expects to see next week — to help him out of his Korean jam. Because presumably Putin has the inside track with Little Rocket Man in Pyongyang.
Poor Rex Tillerson. The U. S. secretary of state was too honest to deny revelations he’d dismissed the president as a “moron,” and now he has to keep a straight face when trying to convince world leaders Washington is a serious place run by intelligent adults. Not that Trump started the decline of U. S. authority and prestige. Bush launched a war without considering how to handle the aftermath, and opened a gateway for new forces of horror and disruption. Barack Obama resisted getting involved in the mess that resulted, drawing red lines he refused to respect, and paving the way for Iran to become a nuclear power in the cockeyed notion it would make the world a better place.
As a USA Today contributor noted, “the West is smashing its geopolitical might on the anvil of its own foolishness. The authoritarian regimes in China and Russia are gleefully picking up the pieces.” Trump is just more obvious than his predecessors in his limited understanding and interest in any of it, or knowing what to do about it.
The U. S. has always been an introspective nation, far more interested in its own affairs than in wielding the authority it held as the world’s pre- eminent power. It inherited that status with the decline of rival powers, and after the fall of the Soviet Union was declared the world’s only remaining superpower. It never quite knew what to do with that position, allowing it to wither considerably from lack of use. You don’t hear it mentioned much any more.
It’s nice to think of the Pentagon as a bulwark against Chinese expansionism or Russian aggression, and without U. S. support the very existence of Israel would be in question. It’s often asked what the planet would look like if the U. S. wasn’t around to act as international cop, and whether it would be a good or a bad thing. It may be that we’re about to find out.