Gabriel Elefteriu
With Donald Trump only days away from being sworn into what will likely be the most “imperial” of US presidencies since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s, the geopolitical environment is rich with positive opportunities waiting to be realised – as well as risks. As it is becoming almost a habit, he comes into office on the heels of yet another Democratic administration whose foreign policy has been a train wreck from one end to the other, and that he must fix.
Before Trump’s first term of office, Obama had presided over the Libya war (including Benghazi), the Arab Spring (including the onset of Syria’s civil war), Putin’s Crimea grab, the rise of ISIS, the rise of China, and the catastrophic Iran Deal (i.e. the JCPOA).
Then Trump defeated ISIS, strengthened NATO, started to arm Ukraine, turned the screws back on Iran, put Israel and the Arabs on track to peace (the Abraham Accords), and reoriented US power – as well as allies – towards confronting China seriously, for the first time.
After that, on Biden’s watch, things went badly wrong again. America got humiliated in Afghanistan, Ukraine was invaded by Russia, Israel was attacked by Hamas and Iran, the Houthi rebels brazenly blocked most shipping in the Red Sea, Sub-Saharan Africa was lost to the Russians and the Chinese, an Al-Qaeda graduate warlord took over Syria with Turkish help, and China grew stronger and more aggressive around Taiwan and beyond.
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