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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 8/31/20

The US Has Unmasked Itself to the World and It Ain't Pretty

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Today, the whole world laughs at the US. During the G7 meeting in 2019, the leaders from Canada, France, Holland, and the UK openly joked about President Trump's activities. His speech to the UN in 2018 received derisive laughter from the entire world when he claimed, "In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country." There are countless memes and gifs of Trump saying and doing stupid things. The leader of America has become the world's buffoon. Our opinion and actions upon the world stage have become meaningless.

Leader

When global problems threatened international trade or regional peace, the US was there to lead the charge to stability. Carl Bildt, former Swedish prime minister, said recently, "Normally, when something happens--a war, an earthquake--everybody waits to see what the Americans are doing, for better or for worse, and then they calibrate their own response based on that." When East Germany denied access to West Berlin in 1949, the US started sending relief help to the beleaguered German citizens through daily air shipments of food, water and other supplies. In 1956, the UK, France and Israel threatened war with Egypt because its president, Nasser, had taken over the Suez Canal, but the US responded with threats of economic sanctions on all three countries forcing them to withdraw. In 1991, when Iraq invaded Kuwait the US lead an international coalition to liberate the country and send Iraq back home.

Under Trump, this is no longer the case. Other leaders have had to fill the void. In early August, 2020, two massive explosions blew up the port at Beirut and French President Macron went to Lebanon to assess the situation and provide guidance. The US was nowhere to be found even though Macron asked for Trump specifically.

Tensions have also risen between Greece and Turkey and again, the French president interceded, this time with his military moving to the eastern Mediterranean Sea to participate in war games with Greece. The Washington Post wrote on August 14, "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would press ahead with its prospecting [of oil] until Aug. 23 as planned. But following a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he signaled that Ankara and Berlin had agreed to a 'softening' of positions after that date." Where was the US? AWOL!

China is promising billions in aid in Africa and elsewhere through its BRI Initiative while the US is curtailing or severing ties with those same areas. Trump is even encouraging others, Presidents Xi and Putin, to send more aid to Venezuela! He is leaving a vacuum that Xi, Putin and other world leaders are more than happy to fill. Our leadership is no more.

Alliances

The US has often championed mutual cooperation. Sometimes its choices for partners can be a bit odd, but the goal has almost always been for the propagation of democracy and global teamwork. The UN, WHO, GATT now WTO, NATO, SEATO, OAS, NAFTA, ILO, IAEA, and even more recently, the Iran Nuclear Deal, were meant to increase collaboration and ease tension.

Now that Trump is in office, he has quit the Iran deal, though he still wants to impose more sanctions, criticized our NATO partners, left the Paris Accord, departed from the Open Skies treaty, withdrawn from UNESCO, withdrawn from WHO, withdrawn from the UN Human Rights Council, and quit the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty among many more retreats. More vacuum to be filled by others.

COVID-19

This year, 2020, has taken the cake. The worst pandemic in a century has sent the world's economy into a tailspin. It will take years to fully recover. Rather than leading the world, the US has fallen into a morass of massive indecision and confusion directly due to the lack of a coordinated national plan. We have more cases, more deaths and more conspiracy theories than any other nation. In short, the US has become the poster child for what NOT to do during this pandemic. Because of the coronavirus, he has created a situation where the rest of the world is reopening long before the US ready. We have become personae non gratae for all but 11 countries.

Conclusion

COVID-19 has made it obvious that Trump cannot lead the nation, but what's worse is Americans don't seem to care. Trump, along with help from COVID-19, has finally unveiled the true face of Americans. We are a nation full of petty, self-serving, egotistical, cowardly and childish citizens. These people easily point fingers at others for the most trivial of reasons, yet go to great lengths to hide their own mistakes and refuse to own up to them. At the same time they send money to vigilantes that kill protesters in the street. Here is just one recent example of crowdfunding to the tune of about $300,000 to help in the judicial defense of a teenager who shot and killed two protesters and wounded another on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

President Trump has pulled back the veil on American Exceptionalism and our air of invincibility and omnipotence. He has shown the US to be full of self-centered, undisciplined childish brats that play the victim card whenever confronted and refuse to participate in world affairs where the US can't turn a profit on it. The world has watched as Trump has dismantled treaties, agreements and pacts that had taken decades to achieve.

Most of the world no longer respects or fears Americans. They pity us!

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66 year old Californian-born and bred male - I've lived in four different countries, USA, Switzerland, Mexico, Venezuela, and currently live in the Dominican Republic - speak three languages fluently, English, French, Spanish - have worked as a (more...)
 

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