Trump is destroying America’s relationships across the globe
The Iran war is risking America’s global security ties and damaging its reputation, especially among the world’s Muslims, according to a set of State Department cables obtained by POLITICO.
The cables, dated Wednesday, described the fallout of the war for America’s standing in three countries in different parts of the world: Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Indonesia.
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U.S. diplomats at embassies in the countries’ capitals painted damning portraits of an America under siege in multiple media spheres by pro-Iranian actors that are exceptionally agile in the digital space.
In Azerbaijan, what had been a significantly improving relationship has hit a plateau at best, and appears to be faltering. Bahrain’s government is facing questions about whether the U.S. abandoned it to fend for itself against Iranian drones and missiles. And Indonesia’s leader could face growing calls to reduce security ties with the U.S.
Some of the cables describe anti-U.S. sentiment that is having an immediate impact, while others raise concerns that relationships could be in danger if the war continues much longer. Taken together, the cables paint a picture of countries where the U.S. is losing the population’s trust, and potentially that of their governments.
I’m quite sure they aren’t the only ones. For instance:
The abrupt change in direction of US policy is a massive shock for both Korea and Japan. While much of his attention has been focused on Europe and the Americas, Trump’s recent comments on Japan and Korea have not been encouraging. Early this month he said he “loves” Japan, but complained that Japan had made a “fortune” out of the US. While the alliance ensured the US protected Japan, Japan had no obligation to protect the US. Korea in turn was “unfair to the US – militarily and in other ways”.
Officials in both countries are reacting with anxiety and alarm.
The US and South Korea have a long shared military history. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Both support the continuation of the rules-based order, even as they worry it may barely exist any more. For the moment the approach of both countries can be summed up as hide, plan and wait: avoid being an immediate target of US action; nevertheless plan that they will be; and wait to determine when to execute their response plan.
Trump’s shock treatment seems to be working already – to the extent of forcing Japan and Korea to upgrade their own self-reliance. Ishiba has committed to “dramatically bolster our defense capabilities…with the fundamental goal of deterring an invasion of Japan by possessing the capabilities needed to prevent or repel an invasion of Japan on our own.” Achieving this would amount to a major reversal of Japan’s post-war dependence on US deterrence.
The whole world is recoiling in horror at what this idiot is doing. First there were the inane tariffs, now he’s blowing up boats in the high seas and starting wars. How could they possibly trust this country?
The implications of this are profound, as we know. I don’t think we can accurately predict where it’s going but the dissolution of the world order as we’ve known it for the past 80 years is happening very rapidly. If we weren’t in the nuclear age I think we might be able to just sit back and watch it unfold without panicking. The U.S. will still be very powerful, regardless, and very wealthy. As individuals we would likely be more or less ok.
But the reason we had the post WWII order in the first place was to keep a lid on the nuclear threat which, despite many problematic aspects, did work. That’s gone now and we don’t know what, if anything, can replace it. That’s something to keep you up at night.
