Page 6 - AT

A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 9 deceMber 2019

America's influence, once so dominant, waning under Trump

By TIM SULLIVAN al from northern Syria.
Associated Press Perhaps no U.S. ally is more
It's whispered in NATO worried than the Kurds,
meeting rooms and cel- America's longtime battle-
ebrated in China's halls of field allies. They bore the
power. It's lamented in the brunt of the combat as the
capital cities of key U.S. al- Islamic State group was
lies and welcomed in the driven from the territory it
Kremlin. held across a swath of Iraq
Three years into Donald and Syria.
Trump's presidency, Amer- "Betrayal process is offi-
ica's global influence is cially complete," a Kurdish
waning. In interviews with official said in a WhatsApp
The Associated Press, dip- message sent to journal-
lomats, foreign officials ists after Trump's defense
and scholars from numer- secretary announced U.S.
ous countries describe a troops would fully withdraw
changing world order in from northeastern Syria.
which the United States has That pullout paved the
less of a central role. way for a Turkish offensive
And in many ways, that's just against Kurdish fighters and
fine with the White House. signaled to the world that
Trump campaigned on an In this Dec. 4, 2019, photo, from front row left, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, NATO Secretary U.S. may no longer be as
''America First'' foreign poli- General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. President Donald Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reliable as it once was.
and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attend a ceremony event during a NATO leaders
cy and says a strong United meeting at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. The Kurds weren't taken
States will mean a stronger Associated Press completely by surprise.
world. Kurdish officials had been
"The future doesn't belong Trudeau quickly tried to seen with suspicion. dangerous vacuum. holding back -channel
to globalists," Trump told walk back his words, tell- Because those longtime "Once the U.S. role in Eu- talks with Syria and Russia
the U.N. General Assembly ing reporters that he and friends of Washington? rope weakens, Russia's in- for more than a year be-
in September. "The future Trump have a "good and Many are now looking else- fluence inevitably grows," fore the announcement.
belongs to patriots." constructive relationship." where for alliances. Very Vadim Karasev, head of The Kurds feared they
Trump insists he's abandon- But the footage brought often, they look to China or the Kyiv-based Institute of would be abandoned by
ing globalism for bilateral into the open the increas- Russia. Global Strategies said. Washington.
ties more beneficial to the ing divide between the In Islamabad, for example, Or there's France, whose China has been delighted
U.S.. United States and its allies. where the U.S. was once friendship with America by what it sees as the vol-
But there's little sign of that. This is a major change. For seen as the only game in goes back to the days of untary abdication of U.S.
Instead, once-close allies generations, America saw town, Pakistan's govern- George Washington. Per- leadership, particularly on
— France, Egypt, Pakistan, itself as the center of the ment now gets military aid haps more than any other free trade and climate
Afghanistan, Mexico, Tur- world. For better or worse, and training from Russia Western leader, French change.
key, Germany and more — most of the rest of the world and billions of dollars in in- President Emmanuel Ma- Trump's pullout from the
have quietly edged away has regarded the U.S. as its vestment and loans from cron has made clear that planned Trans-Pacific
from Washington over the colossus — respecting it, China. In the Philippines, Europe should look to Bei- Partnership, for example,
past three years. fearing it, turning to it for President Rodrigo Duterte jing, not Washington, when opened the way for Bei-
Sometimes it's not so quiet. answers. is nurturing closer ties to Bei- it comes to addressing jing to push ahead with its
In a Buckingham Palace "We are America," said jing despite his nervousness global issues from trade own alternative free-trade
reception room during the Madeleine Albright, secre- over its expansionism in the wars to Iran's nuclear ambi- agreement.
recent NATO summit, a TV tary of state in the Clinton South China Sea. In Egypt, tions. Meanwhile, China has
camera caught a cluster of administration. "We are the long one of America's Macron's recent trip to Chi- gone from being a climate
European leaders grinning indispensable nation." closest Middle Eastern al- na was choreographed in change curmudgeon to
as Canadian Prime Minister To be sure, America is still a lies, Cairo now lets Russian part to convey that the Eu- sometimes reaping praise
Justin Trudeau appeared global superpower. military planes use its bases ropean Union has little faith as a global leader on the
to mock Trump. But now, the country's wan- and the two countries re- in Washington anymore. issue.
"You just watched his ing influence is profoundly cently held joint air force Europe is on "the edge of a The White House's National
team's jaws drop to the redrawing the geopoliti- exercises. precipice," Macron told The Security Council did not re-
floor," Trudeau said, appar- cal map, opening the way In Ukraine, which has Economist magazine in a spond to requests for com-
ently speaking about his for Washington's two most looked to U.S. military aid for recent interview. "What we ment about this story.
meeting with Trump, talking powerful foes — Russia and years to try to keep an ex- are currently experiencing Trump insists he is not pulling
to a group that included China — to extend their pansionist Russia in check, is the brain death of NATO," the U.S. off the world stage.
the leaders of France, Brit- reach into many countries Trump's questionable loy- he said, a reference to the
ain and the Netherlands. where they had long been alty is seen as creating a announced U.S. withdraw- Continued on Page 27