THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
The world wants to know if the US is still the leader of the free world
Is America reliable?
by Dr Harlan K. Ullman, Senior Advisor, Atlantic Council / Business Executives for National Security, Washington D.C.
From Britain and the westerns shores of Europe across the world through the Middle East and Southwest Asia to the distant reaches of the northwest Pacific Ocean, many states are asking the questions “is America reliable and can be depended upon to continue as the leader of the free world?” Or “is make America great again” the slogan disguising a Washingtonian retreat from the world stage? Many friends, allies and potential adversaries want to know the answers to these questions.
Yes, America is reliable The most straight-forward answer is yes. America is reliable and dependable. But these are the wrong questions. The most important and indeed key question is whether President Donald J. Trump will be reliable and dependable in continuing America’s leadership and role in the increasingly complex, interrelated and in too many places dysfunction international order. And if Mr. Trump places less value in America’s long-standing international role, are his advisors and people to whom he might listen capable of changing his mind?
Where and what for stands Trump? After eight months in office, it is not clear where President Trump stands on these issues or on what America’s global role should be. Clearly, despite personal changes noted below, a White House that appears in shambles and is consumed with investigations over Russian interference in the U.S. elections and how several of the President’s principal advisors may have been engaged in or by Moscow simply lacks the band width to concentrate on the panoply of crises, issues and decisions it faces from health care to increasing force levels in Afghanistan and Iraq. Further, the President’s first overseas trip contrasted kowtowing to the Saudi royals in Riyadh with insulting America’s twenty-eight NATO allies in Brussels. And Mr Trump’s seemingly favorable view of Russian President Vladimir Putin flies in the face of popular US opinion that regards the Kremlin as a major adversary and exacerbates the European allies’ concerns over Russia’s ZAPAD 17 military exercises taking place in Belarus.
A lack of perception Regarding the capacity of the president to listen to good ad-
During his visit to Poland, President Trump held a speech at the Warsaw Uprising Monument, 6 July 2017
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