In his book
“Diplomacy” Henry Kissinger observed: “Americans have two contradictory
attitudes towards foreign policy: One,
America serves its values best by perfecting democracy at home, i.e., beacon
for the rest of mankind; Two, America’s values impose on its an obligation to
crusade for them around the world.”[1]
The fact is that
since Woodrow Wilson, and especially after the end of World War Two, the United
States opted for the second option, crusading around the world to impose
American values, espousing internationalist and globalist political structures
such as the United Nations and regional alliances to advance its own
interests.
“Empires have no
interest in operating without an international system; they aspire to be [original italics] the international
system. Empires have no need for a
balance of power. That is how the United
States has conducted its foreign policy in the Americas, and China through most
of its history in Asia.”[2] Or as Nikita Khrushchev is alleged to have
said at the United Nations General Assembly (October 12, 1960): “Mr. President, call the toady of American
imperialism to order.”[3]
After the
implosion of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, an often-asked
question for American foreign policy has been what is America’s role in a
multi-polar world? Or more
philosophically what ought America’s role be in the multi-polar world?
Despite a lot of
opaque efforts and political palliatives about new world orders, fight for
democracy and human rights, wars on terror with accompanying foreign military
interventions, and supposed obligations that America as a superpower owes to
the world[4]--this
question has remained largely unanswered until now.
Enter
President Donald J. Trump who is not known for mincing-words: The nation state “remains the best vehicle
for elevating the human condition”[5] and America’s role in the world is to serve as
a beacon for others to emulate and that America will engage the world on its
terms as America’s interests are America’s guiding force.[6]
Moreover, Trump
placed current and potential adversaries on notice that if forced to defend
these interest, America will destroy them.[7]
“The statesman
must act on assessments that cannot be proved at the time he is making them; he
[or she] will be judged by history on the basis of how wisely he managed the
inevitable change and, above all, by how well he preserves the peace.”[8]
Whether Trump is
right or not depends on the results. In
this regard Vince Lombardi is most on point for in the end, “some of us will do
our jobs well and some will not; but we will all be judged on one thing: the
results.”
[1] Henry A. Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 18
[2] Kissinger, Diplomacy, p. 21
[3] From Wikiquote but without citation
[4] E.g., Robert Kagan, Superpowers
Don’t Get to Retire: What our tired country
still owes the world, in New Republic (May 26, 2014) https://newrepublic.com/article/117859/superpowers-dont-get-retire; accessed September 24, 2017.
[5] Gerald
F. Seib, “Trump Signals U.S.’s Return to Realpolitik”, Wall Street Journal,
September 20, 2017, p. A10.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8]
Kissinger, Diplomacy, pp. 27-28
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