Ever since Donald Trump took office 12 months ago, United States has slowly declined in its role as a peace-keeper and an unbiased mediator in a range of international political issues.
As other nations like China, Russia and Iran leap forward to fill the void left behind by the country that had once been considered champion of global peace and climate change, foreign leaders are speculating that it will not be long before the United States loses its status of a hegemonic power.
U.S President Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin, Russian President, at the G20 Summit, July 7, 2017, Hamburg.
U.S backs out of key political and environmental issues
Climate change is no longer a pressing issue for the United States which had once been on the forefront of advocating environmental preservation. Now, China has assumed responsibility for fighting climate change. United States’ representation on other political matters such as peace talks in Syria is also falling short, leaving the void for Russia to fill in as it takes over the mantle for peace negotiations.
Donald Trump has also withdrawn his support from NATO leaving the member states with no other option but to look to France and Germany as the new figure heads of the North Atlantic alliance. But most importantly, the United States has lost the support of some of its biggest allies after Donald Trump made matters in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict much worse by declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
Trump and Israeli’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the “Yad Vashem” Museum in Jerusalem, Israel
His words not only tarnished the reputation of U.S as the unbiased mediator in the conflict, but also left all the peace negotiation efforts of the past several years undone. During his controversial speech, Trump announced that his administration will be making an effort to broaden its influence in the world, but for the first time in many decades, international leaders are questioning U.S authority which has become less constructive over the past 12 months.
Trump and his national security advisors not on the same page
What’s really concerning is that U.S has slowly become isolated due to its conflicting positions on a number of political issues and has either been disregarded from the international debate or considered irrelevant by the critics. The truth is that most allies consider Trump’s administration unpredictable, questioning the president’s reliability as a partner.
There is also a clear inconsistency between Trump’s and his national security advisers’ views of several national security issues which were highlighted in his speech when he explained the 70-page document on national security strategy developed by his administration. In his speech, the president’s words and the document diverged at several points including the issues related to Russia’s policies.
The document called Russia as America’s rival and clearly stated the need to oppose its subversion tactic. However, Trump’s stance on the issue was less critical. Some experts even blamed president’s leniency towards Russia for making Putin more courageous in his military activities, making things worse in Ukraine’s Kiev where Russian-backed rebels continue to create chaos.
Foreign Powers refuse to recognize U.S as a mediator in Israel-Palestine conflict
Kurt Volker, the special U.S envoy for Ukraine, revealed that the country was experiencing some of the worst clashes in its history resulting in several casualties, simply because Russia has been violating cease-fire but so far, its actions have resulted in no repercussions.
Volker also accused Trump’s ineffective policies on issues regarding NATO, Russia, Palestine and climate which have weakened the state and stripped the country of its status as a global leader. The most recent evidence of the state’s declining power came after Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was met with opposition in the UN General assembly and even the country’s closest allies condemned President’s words and demanded that the U.S rescind its decision.
During a summit held in Istanbul with 50 other Muslim countries, Turkish president said that after Trump’s biased decision, Turkey no longer recognized U.S as the mediator in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
China has also benefited from Trump’s lack of concern over serious issues like climate change. The country has announced that it will create a market for trading emission permits in order to curb the emission of harmful gasses threatening to destroy our environment.
The U.S. president was also excluded from the international climate summit held in 2017 after he chose to back out of the international climate deal.
