My TakeAmerica has always been a rogue state, and even more so under Donald Trump
The United States has spent trillions of dollars on foreign wars, thanks in large part to the largesse of countries around the world that are willing to fund its ever-ballooning debt
“T he United States has become a rogue state.” That’s the title of a recent column in the Foreign Policy magazine. I generally agree with the author, but would dispute the title. The US has always been a rogue state. And yet, something does seem to have changed fundamentally under Donald Trump, especially with his second term in office. So what gives?
“The United States is now acting like a predatory hegemon, exploiting positions of leverage built up over decades to exploit allies and adversaries alike,” the author wrote.
“This zero-sum approach to nearly all relations with others includes a deep hostility towards most international institutions and norms, deliberately erratic behaviour, and a tendency to treat other foreign leaders with ill-disguised contempt while expecting demeaning acts of submission and fealty from most of them. As the fallout from the war in Iran spreads throughout the region and around the world, it underscores that the administration either didn’t understand how its actions would affect other states or simply didn’t care.”
I don’t mean to nitpick but I would use the analogy of the Chinese triads or the Italian mafia. There is the big boss or the Godfather who keeps the peace among the rival gangs, so he earns everyone’s respect or at least inspires fear. Still, he is really the biggest criminal of all. For a long time, the US was, and to a great extent, still is, the Godfather or the biggest triad boss. Now though, as his power and authority decline, he is acting more like a regular criminal. That makes him far more dangerous.
At least that’s my own understanding or misunderstanding of the realist or neorealist school of international relations. Stripped of their sophisticated mathematical game theory and academic jargon, it essentially sees the relationships between states in terms of gangsterism.
As prominent economist Jeffrey Sachs recently told The Guardian newspaper: “Trump is saying out loud what used to be said only in private. In that sense, it is an advantage. The US foreign policy is gangsterism and now is more widely understood to be gangsterism. Only the rest of the world, acting on UN principles and in a united way, can push back against US militarism.”