Terence Zimwara
Donald Trump became United States of America’s 45th
president against all odds. The field was heavily tilted against his persona
and his campaign from the very beginning. Traditional Republican party supporting
organizations dumped him yet he prevailed by winning the oval on a Republican
ticket. Perhaps it is also fair to point out that the Russian factor played a key
part in his shocking victory.
However, it is not the essence of this piece to delve into
Donald Trump’s electoral victory controversy. It is the events that have
occurred in the US since his win that have brought to the fore more concerning
issues not only for America’s ruling elite but for the entire world. The US has
been on a gradual decline for a few years now and its traditional enemies are
aware of this as well.
Admittedly, America’s enemies are closing the gap as they
regularly challenge or attack Washington’s interests and the US response every
time seems to embolden them. Take Russia for instance, under the leadership of Vladimir
Putin, the former superpower has been trying to rebuild and to remake its image
around the world as a global power.
Ever since Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, President Vladmir Putin has
worked hard in his attempt to close the gap with the US by taking a series of moves
and provocative actions aimed at making Russia a great power again. Russia
annexed Crimea a Ukrainian territory in 2014, it intervened in the Syrian
conflict by backing Bashar al Asad in 2015 and its military planes have routinely
engaged in sometimes dangerous maneuvers against American military assets.
However, it was the 2016 US elections that provided the perfect platform for
Russia to launch what may rank as one of the most daring challenge to the US
establishment in modern history.
By interfering in the election through hacking, Russia was
apparently able to create conditions that made it impossible for its least favoured
candidates to win. By leaking damaging information just before the elections,
Russia was to able influence voting patterns not only for the presidential
candidates but for congressional candidates as well.
What has alarmed some, was the response by the Obama
administration at that time, it was feeble at best, only a handful of Russians
were deported. Russia would later return the favour by deporting several
American diplomats and Washington is simply watching. Russia calculated that the
incoming Trump will not be too keen to punish them once he got into the office,
after all their intervention helped him win.
Officially, Russia has denied any involvement in the hacking
but privately you must bet the Russians are satisfied that a country, which the
former US president Barack Obama, labeled a ‘regional power’ had pulled off
this daring operation. The divided American response to Russia’s challenge is
ample proof that the US is unable exert itself as much as it did before and
this is good news to its adversaries.
President Trump believes he won fair and square but some leaders
in the US congress believe he got help from Russia. The latter launched a
formal investigation into the election hacking fiasco while President Trump
continuously attempts to frustrate this. Whatever happens, if Russia emerges
from this largely unscathed, it will be testament to all that the US is
diminishing as a global power not matter how much President Trump bleats
otherwise.
Yes President Trump tries very hard to project himself as a tough
leader but behind all the blaster, he is just an impulsive leader without a real
plan of dealing with America’s main problems. The Trump administration has had
its hands full since coming to office, yet President Trump continues with his bombastic
style, which unfortunately hurts the US all the time. Trump’s policy on North
Korea is one prime example of how the unorthodox approach to international
crises is backfiring.
Trump’s twitter statements in the lead up to his United
Nations General Assembly speech failed to dissuade North Korea from abandoning
its nuclear ambitions. Pyongyang had in fact escalated tensions by launching a
series of missiles that reached Japanese territories in addition to the other missile
that threatens Alaska,
a US territory. Following a widely condemned Trump speech at the UN, North
Korea seized on the moment by accusing the US of declaring war on her after US
bombers flew close to its territory.
Both China and Russia, who are itching to takeover America’s
global leadership role, immediately cashed in on the crisis, urging both sides
to show restraint. Normally it will be the US that acts as an arbiter on issues
like this, yet Trump has reduced himself to the level where he engages in a
mudslinging contest with North Korea’s Kim. As President Trump continues with his self
destruct approach, more and more countries will look to China and perhaps Russia
for leadership on global problems.
Perhaps President Trump should be forgiven, he has not had much
experience in public office, if any, prior to becoming president. His
diplomatic skills are just not there, his reckless statements only serve to
undermine the global order thus endangering lives of many.
Previous US administrations have all gone the sanctions
route when dealing with North Korea because there are really no viable military
options. North Korea is always spoiling for a fight and top western security
experts have always advised against any military action. However, President
Trump’s impulsiveness has put himself in an impossible position, some are now
waiting for him to make good on his promise to flatten North Korea.
No one really knows Pyongyang’s nuclear capabilities. The US
which has not seen a large scale conventional attack on its territory since
Pearl Harbor, cannot attack North Korea without expecting retaliatory attacks
on its soil and this could spark a wider conflict. Pyongyang seems to have a death
wish, it will continue with its dangerous antics and the US should not be
baited by this.
There is another problem however, by not attacking as Trump
promised, the US risks compromising its security standing in the world just as
it did when Syria crossed ‘red lines’ and Obama ultimately failed to act. It’s
a conundrum Trump brought on himself and the US simply because he thinks he
knows better than everyone.
Make no mistake, the US military is by far the biggest in
terms of funding, its annual budget dwarfs that of its nearest rival several
times over making this military a fierce war machine. Yet it is in the realm of
the cyberspace where the US seemingly lags behind, it is regularly targeted by
state-sponsored cyber armies but it has not been able to stop further attacks.
The theft of department of Homelands Security employee database blamed on Chinese state
sponsored hackers,
the hacking of Sony Pictures blamed on North Korea and of course the US
elections controversy are some of the high profile breaches. This US inability
to deter these attacks raises the spectre of blackmail where powerful forces in
cyberspace could in the future potentially arm twist America to negate on some
its responsibilities as a guarantor of global security.
Perhaps the one Donald Trump flaw that leaves the US exposed
has to be his preference for isolationism. Previous US administrations that
favoured isolating America paid the heavy price as the US got attacked and was
forced into war it did not to be a part of. President Trump thinks the US is
better off working with a few countries and that the US needs to pull out of
some international agreements it has signed.
Former president Barack Obama favoured the multilateral
approach, where he forged strong alliances with Germany, Japan and South Korea
when dealing with international crises. These alliances have helped to bolster
American foreign policy where a unilateral approach would have failed, the
sanctions against Russia are a case in point. Russia was hurt more by Germany
sanctions rather than by American sanctions yet Trump has trashed this alliance
because he appears more driven by an agenda to dismantle everything Obama built
than maintaining world peace and security.
Such is the kind of president the US has these days, the
turmoil that characterizes this administration says it all. The costs for the
US are already very high less than a year into the Trump administration. Who
knows what will happen in the next three years?
Terence Zimwara is a writer and commentator. He can be
contacted on 263 771799901 or tem2ra@gmail.com
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