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Trump, Russia and America's Isolationism
By Victor Anazonwu
After only a few weeks in office, President Donald J. Trump has left no one in doubt about whose side he is on. Apparently in a hurry to fulfill his campaign promises, America's 45th president has upgraded from policy-making via Twitter to leading the world's No 1 democracy via Executive Orders – a constitutional provision originally intended to be used only sparingly and in emergencies. He has rolled out a slew of EOs (his way of by-passing Congress), the most infamous of which slams a 90 day entry ban on nationals of some Muslim–majority countries on the ground of suspicion or fear that they might pose a threat to US homeland security.
Suddenly, the US is looking like a banana republic with a dictator in charge. It seems that the multi-millionaire businessman who promised to “Make America Great Again” is on a fast track to destroying the American Civilization and handing Vladimir Putin a wild card as the world's Paramount Ruler.
President Trump's definition of “homeland security”, consisting the selective exclusion of other nationals from the US even at the risk of global backlash, appears painfully pedestrian and shockingly naďve.
For one, it is neither based on statistics nor verifiable facts. In the last few years, the US has suffered fewer and fewer terrorist attacks from abroad. So, it must be doing something right already – helped of course by the fact that the Atlantic provides a natural buffer between her and the brewing centers of Middle East and Europe where most of the threat is believed to emanate.
Second, America has in recent years suffered more from “home-grown terrorism” and other symptoms of internal social dislocation than from immigrant-related crimes. For instance, gun violence among citizens and police killing of African Americans reached astronomical proportions under the Obama Administration. Yet, Trump chose to ignore those internal infernos.
Not to mention the fact that Saudi Arabia alone has exported more terror to America before and since 9/11 than all the countries targeted by the Executive Order put together, yet the Saudis are curiously missing from Trump's list!
Perhaps even more tellingly, the Trump White House seems to have missed the point that security is not just a physical thing or about “securing our borders”. It is just as important as psychological, social, intellectual, economic, political and even spiritual safety. A man is not more secure simply by living behind a high wall. If he does not enjoy a healthy relationship with his neighbors, then his fence becomes a prison. If America under Trump successfully alienates all its friends, allies and admirers around the globe, Americans would become more insecure than ever.
America sells more to the world than it buys from around the world. That is why it has the largest and one of the healthiest economies on the planet. But even America cannot get a balance of trade surplus from every single transaction and with every single trading partner. That is utopian. As every good businessman knows, you sometimes make a concession or overlook a loss in order to take a gain elsewhere. You must also show respect and courtesy to your business partners, otherwise there'll be no relationship upon which future deals could be struck.
Trump's approach to international trade and diplomacy appears geared towards making the US a rabidly insular state like North Korea. If other nations respond with reciprocal measures, even the mighty American economy will be on its way to decline. The jobs he promised the electorate will not materialize. Perhaps then Mr. Trump will realize that without the warmth of the global community, putting an FBI agent to guard every American citizen would still leave them miserably insecure.
Vladimir Putin must be smiling now in the Kremlin. His strategic objective for “fiddling” with the last American elections appears to be materializing faster than expected. The former KGB chief must have envisioned that with a man like Donald Trump at the helm, Washington will have so many internal conflicts that it will have little time and energy left to grapple with international affairs. This would leave the global arena free for Russia to play as it deems fit.
If Putin succeeds, he'd be turning the table on an old adversary. Nearly 30 years ago in 1989, Ronald Reagan pulled a similar one on Mikhail Gorbachev, then head of the mighty USSR. By nudging Gorbachev to “bring down the wall” and “open up” the Soviet Union a little with the twin policies of Perestroika and Glasnost, Reagan discreetly set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the implosion of the Russian-led behemoth.
It appears that Mr. Putin, a former spy chief and avid chess player tore a page from Reagan's book of tricks. So, he made a play to help unleash Trump on America. So far, he appears to be winning. In the end, the greatest threat to America's security and strategic national interest may not be Mexico, China, TPP, the European Union or even radical Islam. It may be the blundering by the White House.
Victor Anazonwu, a media expert, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. He can be reached on vanazon@yahoo.com