Page 32 - The Economist

32 United States The Economist December 9th 2017
his country is a democratic model, growl-
ing: “The world sees how bad the United
States is.” That led the Cambodian leader
to a gamble which, from outside the coun-
try, seemshighlyconfusing: to tryto recruit
America’s president as an ally in a purge
built around an anti-American conspiracy
theory. It failed. On November 16th the
White House issued a statement express-
ing“grave concern” afterCambodia’shigh-
est court dissolved the main opposition
party, declaring that next year’s elections,
on current course, “will not be legitimate,
free or fair” and warning of “concrete
steps” in response.
Cambodia’s story is instructive. Mr
Trump has flouted norms upheld—at least
in theory—by all modern holders of his of-
fice. He has scorned the very idea of Amer-
ican exceptionalism, tellingArab and Mus-
lim leaders in Riyadh in May: “America is a
Foreign policy sovereign nation and our first priority is al-
ways the safety and security of our citi-
Relative moralism zens. We are not here to lecture, we are not
here to tell other people how to live.” A
forthcoming national-security strategy is
set to mark a step back from global leader-
ship, towards a narrower, more zero-sum
WASHINGTON, DC view of American interests. Nonetheless,
Unnoticed byDonald Trump, the governmenthe heads is still promoting some foreign rulers who felt emboldened
democracyand human rights around the world
to repress domestic enemies with impuni-
F DENIZENS of political Washington re- Western governments, and ordered radio ty have been startled to find that no Trump
Icall the commotion, way back on Febru- stations to stop carrying broadcasts by RFA doctrine reliably protects them.
ary 24th, when President Donald Trump’s and the Voice ofAmerica. The Trump White House is far too cha-
press team excluded CNN, the New York Escalating the fight, the government ac- otic, riven byinfightingand buffeted bythe
Times and others from a White House cused the main opposition party of being impulses of the president, to have clear
briefing, most probably shrug at the mem- involved in an American-backed plot to doctrines about democracy promotion, or
ory. Editors lodged formal complaints at overthrow Mr Hun Sen, offering as evi- many other weighty questions of geopoli-
the time, not least because the snub came dence images ofopposition activists meet- tics, says a senior administration official. A
hoursafterMrTrump told cheeringconser- ingdiplomats and SenatorJohn McCain of position may earn signs of support from
vative activists that the “fake news media” Arizona. Livid at being rebuked by the Mr Trump, but “you can take that to the
are “the enemy of the people”. But there American embassy in Cambodia, Mr Hun bank for as long as you are talking to him”,
have been many commotions since, and Sen took his complaints to the top. Using a says the official—before a presidential
worse snubs. summit of Asian leaders in Manila on No- tweet says the opposite minutes later. Mr
Yet there are places where that kerfuffle vember 13th to praise Mr Trump face-to- Hun Sen’s blunder, the official says, was to
in a White House corridor left a mark. Take face, Mr Hun Sen called him “a great per- project his own absolutism onto America.
Cambodia, the South-East Asian country son” wisely uninterested in human rights. “He seems to think that now we have this
whose autocratic government charged “I don’tknowifyouare like me, orI am like rich old guy in charge of the United States,
two ex-reportersin Novemberwith “espio- you,” he swooned. He had just one gripe. [MrTrump] can snap his fingers and every-
nage”, citing their previous work for Radio Mr Trump should “admonish” diplomats thing will change.” American government
Free Asia (RFA), a news outlet funded by at the American embassy who were work- is messier than that. With a small country
the American government. There is a di- ing against his “great principle” of non-in- like Cambodia, policy remains broadly set
rect connection between the detention of terference in the politics offoreign lands. by career foreign service officers (among
Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin, who face them the American ambassador), by staff
up to 15 years in prison, and that moment Phnom-enal in the National Security Council and by
of early Trumpian bombast. Hun Sen, A summit photograph ofMr Hun Sen with members of Congress sincerely aggrieved
Cambodia’s prime minister, pounced on Mr Trump, thumbs-up, beaming, was by Mr Hun Sen’s assaults on democracy
the humbling of reporters by the White hailed by Cambodia’s former foreign min- and news outlets. That group includes Mr
House, declaring with approval on Febru- ister as proof that it is better to “meet with McCain and his Republican colleagues
ary 27th that Mr Trump, like him, sees the the boss” than talk to “slaves”. It was a re- Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Congress-
press causing “anarchy”. The gloating did markable moment, and a misjudgment. man Ed Royce of California, chairman of
not stop there. Denouncing a CNN report Mr Hun Sen, along with other despots and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
on sex trafficking in Cambodia in August, autocrats, saw a soulmate in an American A second telling case may be found in
Mr Hun Sen grumbled that “President president who campaigned by attacking Hungary, a European ally and NATO mem-
Trump is right: US media is very tricky.” the free pressand the judiciary, who threat- ber state whose increasingly autocratic
Cambodian officials expelled the National ened to lockup his opponent once elected, government greeted Mr Trump’s election
Democratic Institute, a Washington-based who kept secret his tax returns, who sug- with glee, only to overreach in its turn. Re-
outfit that promotes free and fair elections gested that the presidential election might lations between President Barack Obama
with fundingfrom the American and other be rigged, and who scorned the idea that and the Hungarian governmentled byVik- 1