AA Edit | Trump On Warpath Blames World For All Ills
It is in an unstable planet unsure of where it is headed that Donald Trump delivered his address on the state of the world at the United Nations General Assembly in his second term as US President. As he freely chastised global institutions like the UN, debunked climate change while venting his anger at windmills and warned the Western world about the threat of uncontrolled immigration, he brought his pet peeves to the lectern rather than showing a path ahead as the avowed leader of the free world.
Never having possessed the gravitas of a statesman, Trump’s persona of an accidental politician seemed to have overwhelmed his worldview even as his deeply personal biases shone through. His references to an escalator and a teleprompter that stopped working were unkind cuts on a global institution that is anyway fast losing its credibility, more so as the US pulls the plug on its funding, cutting a billion dollars and threatening more reductions.
If the world order, evolved as it has from the end of World War 2 to more modern, multipolar times, appears broken, with nations and blocs like the West and the Global South deeply suspicious of each other, it is worth noting that Trump’s contribution may have hastened it. If there is one thing to be said in his favour, it is his belief in trade rather than war healing the world and hence his exaggerated view of himself as Buddha and Gandhi rolled into one. The stark reality is at least three wars are still on — in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan.
Trump’s Nobel aspirations have permeated his thinking so much he may have forgotten the US bombed Iran’s nuclear fuel processing facilities while it continues to encourage Israel which is pounding Gaza and clearly showing the intention of taking it over permanently. Just after his UN speech, Trump transformed into a hawk, telling Zelenskyy that Ukraine can hit back at Russia and take back all the territory it has lost, but with the help of Nato money and US arms.
India may have lost an opportunity in addressing the thorns that Trump has strewn onto its path, like blaming India and China for financing Vladimir Putin’s war by buying Russian oil, upping the H-1B visa fee, sanctioning the Chabahar port in Iran and placing the highest tariffs on India, and Brazil. Knowing Trump alone can decide on resetting trade and ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have kept his date with a speech at the UNGA thus also facilitating a meeting with “friend” Trump who met a score of world leaders on the sidelines.
The world has realised the truth, in various degrees of genuflection and acceptance of altered equations to outright defiance, that the US is no more a reliable ally as Trump jousts with allies (pointing out that Europe was “going to hell”) and adversaries alike. Going forward, they may have to fend for themselves as Trump’s USA begins to gaze inwards while questioning the very purpose of a global collective like the United Nations. Which is why the “vocal for local” appeal of the Indian leadership to get self-reliant makes even more sense now in a parlous world order.