Financial Times: America’s decline under Trump creates a world without restrictions
The Financial Times said that Israel’s attack on Qatar and Russia’s dispatch of drones to Poland this week demonstrate that Washington’s accelerating retreat under President Donald Trump from its role as a global security watchdog is creating a world without restrictions.
The Financial Times pointed out in its editorial that no one would have believed that Israel would launch a missile attack on Qatar, a major US ally outside NATO, and that Russian drones would not have been sent to a NATO member state were it not for the US retreat from global leadership, which tempts others to take risks.
The Financial Times noted that Washington had grown weary of its role as enforcer of the rules-based order it had built, even before Trump returned for his second term.
Had his predecessor Joe Biden’s administration not sought to move away from costly military interventions, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine would never have occurred in the first place.
This week’s Russian and Israeli actions are a stark example of this, as the Financial Times notes that there is only one global figure with the power and authority to rein in both Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: the US president.
The Financial Times observed that the presence of a volatile and unpredictable US leader tempts others to take their chances, because the shift from a rules-based system to one based on deals and unilateral power produces chaos and widespread violence.
The Israeli strike on Doha was particularly shocking, according to the British newspaper, because Qatar, in cooperation with the United States, has been pivotal in mediation efforts to end the war on Gaza.
Israel’s unjustified attack was a cynical attempt to derail those efforts, and an example of Netanyahu acting with impunity.
If the United States was informed of the Israeli strike only at the last minute, this indicates that Netanyahu feels unconstrained.
If it was informed early, this means that it allowed Israel to attack an important ally.
If the United States was informed of the Israeli strike only at the last minute, this suggests that Netanyahu feels unconstrained.
If it was informed early, this would mean that it allowed Israel to attack a key ally hosting the largest US base in the region. Both possibilities are worrisome.
The Financial Times concluded that Trump, who returned to power vowing to end America’s forever wars and describing himself as a peacemaker, has so far failed to deliver on his threats to impose a heavy price on Moscow, further escalating Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
The irony of America’s retreat from global leadership under Trump lies in the fact that it threatens to exacerbate instability and conflict, into which the world’s largest military power is likely to be drawn sooner or later.
