President Trump seems to have made a rather abrasive start to his second term. It is epitomised by varying degrees of chaos caused by wild swings in his policy positions. The American nation struggles to comprehend the fast-paced changes that his Administration is ringing in. His policies have caused unrelenting uncertainty, apprehensions, job insecurity, etc., within his government departments/circles. This radical approach appears to have stupefied the international community too, friends and foes alike!
The declared end state of his policies is to “Make America Great Again”. That would translate into the US retaining its pre-eminent position as the world’s sole and uncontested military and economic power. The ways and means he intends to adopt to that end are apparent. On the internal front, he has already put into effect the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk to reduce government expenditures, by right-sizing the government departments. Furthermore, he has moved decisively on the illegal (and legal) immigration fronts and started deporting all illegal immigrants known to or held by the authorities. He has even planned to house 30,000 illegal immigrants in the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison. A flurry of executive orders by him, quite akin to royal decrees, is changing the political and governance landscape of the US. Some of these orders have run afoul of the US Constitution and have been promptly challenged in the courts. On the external front, he is employing blatant economic and diplomatic coercion to achieve his geopolitical, geostrategic and geoeconomic objectives. He has already announced a trade war of sorts with Mexico, Canada and China—amongst the US’ top trade partners. He has announced blanket 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% from China. Unsurprisingly, all three have retaliated with matching tariffs of their own on US imports into their countries. Of late, he has announced a further 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports into the US. A veritable trade war looms on the horizon!
On the geopolitical plane, he has threatened to absorb Greenland; either buy it or capture it! The Greenlanders and the rest of the world were appalled by the sheer audacity of this statement as much as by its intent. It has been universally rejected. He has also shown his desire to absorb Canada as the 51st state of the US. This has been spurned outright by the Canadian Government and people. However, he has had more than a modicum of success with Panama. Apparently, it has succumbed to the coercion applied by his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Predictably, Panama has announced a major paradigm shift—it has moved out of China’s BRI and perhaps its orbit and sphere of influence as well. Whether this will hamper China’s ingress into the region and/or give the US total hold and control over the Panama Canal is yet to be seen. Could Panama end up losing all—China’s friendship, the BRI and its economic dividends/investments, as well as the control, benefits and earnings from the Panama Canal? Is this a newer avatar of the US’ Monroe Doctrine in play here? Are China and the US inevitably gravitating towards a new cold war over South America? Could it be a quid pro quo for the Taiwan imbroglio in the Pacific theatre?
The US seems to be employing an intriguing interplay of Realpolitik and coercive diplomacy in its foreign policy. This multidimensional policy has vivid imperialistic and expansionist aspects as well. Some deal with the US itself while others deal with its vital national interests in the Greater Middle East Region (GMER). The latter also revolves around the concept of Greater Israel, ostensibly ordained by divine injunctions. This appears to be the desired end state of the US-Israel Combine’s grand strategic design for the GMER. Cleansing the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Gazans-Palestinians, ethnic cleansing at its starkest and most absolute, thus becomes the most intrinsic step to that end. President Trump has shown his desire to not only evict all Gazans-Palestinians from their homeland but also to develop it into a high-end, luxurious waterfront property, a Riviera of sorts for the rich, affluent and powerful. His real estate developer’s bias seems to have kicked in and overwhelmed his basic human instincts, respect for international humanitarian laws, human rights, righteousness, justice and fair play! This is Realpolitik at its best/worst! He seems adamant about implementing his outrageous, unilateral, prejudiced vision/plan, the sugar-coating and coercive diplomacy notwithstanding. To transform this devastated piece of land into a Riviera, he wants to first depopulate it—a euphemism for ethnic cleansing! Over 2 million Gazans-Palestinians are expected to be forcibly evicted to other countries like Egypt, Jordan; even distant Albania and Indonesia have been mentioned.
The Gazans-Palestinians have just got a ceasefire. (Will the ceasefire hold? Or will the IDF resume its military operations once it has gotten all its hostages back?) They are currently moving back to their already destroyed homes, communities, villages, etc. The US-Israel Combine has wreaked an unrelenting genocide on them, destroyed their land and homes, now threatens to forcibly expel them from their homeland, not allow them to return ever and then intends to profit, earning money from this extremely diabolical undertaking. This amounts to heartlessly exploiting human misery and misfortune. The irony of this whole enterprise is excruciating and inhumane. This outrageous plan has been castigated by all and sundry in the Arab world, in Europe and globally, without exception. Does it rekindle memories of the Nakba of 1948? The Gazans await the world’s and the Muslim Ummah’s response—with hope and trepidation!
Imran Malik
The writer is a retired brigadier of the Pakistan Army. He can be reached at im.k846@gmail.com and tweets @K846Im.