TOP politicians in the United States are very concerned. There are those who believe that the Unites States America is facing a severe crisis with regards to its foreign relations and that its role in the world has changed dramatically and drastically. The current administration of Donald Trump is, to say the least, unconventional and unpredictable.
Perhaps members of the ruling Republican Party themselves are the first ones to realize this. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided to run in the upcoming election in Utah to become a member of the US Senate. Romney, who is regarded as a “big” man from the party, can serve as a shield against Trump’s causal and brazen acts, the role which was played by Senator John McCain, but the latter seems exhausted battling cancer and is no longer able to fight political battles.
Among all this confusion within the US and the shock in the European Union, which has always been the most important ally of the United States of America, China and Russia have made the most of the “opportunities” for political expansion and wider influence in the affairs of the world. The speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in the month of October last year, wherein he presented a “new approach for other countries” that would include “Chinese wisdom and Chinese way of dealing with the problems facing humanity,” was remarkable. Politicians in the emerging US states no longer regard China as an opponent and economic competitor only, but as a political rival with a different political ideology.
The Russians are moving to extend their influence, especially in Europe, where they have enormous influence, exploiting the dependence of the European continent on the Russians as the main supplier of gas. The Russians have become influential with media outlets offering “alternative” and “other” views painting the American political system as “intrusive” and “corrupt” where votes can be bought. They raise doubts about the credibility of the American political system, which America promotes while the Russians present their influence and provide a reliable partner return to the Middle East after a long absence and become an influential player in politics in it and even take a share of the peace cake and become the political game maker in Syria and the participants in the price stability of the oil industry.
China presents also wields enormous political influence particularly over economy as it was evidenced in its spat with the German giant, Mercedes-Benz, in which the latter was forced to apologize because it used a statement in its advert by the Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama. China regards a divisive personality and a threat to China’s national security because he calls for Tibet’s separation from China. In another event, China punished the Philippines for banning banana imports for “health” reasons after the Philippines questioned China’s right to Spratly islands in the sea South China Sea.
China presents Ethiopia as a typical success story that can be replicated elsewhere and how China’s “support” transformed this African country which was reeling from endemic famine and civil was to an economic success story succeeding in agriculture, even in the garment industry. Chinese politicians say they have provided Ethiopia with $1.45 billion to support energy projects — to transfer electricity from the Al Nahda dam — and provided $2.5 billion to build a 450-mile railway, connecting Addis Ababa with the vital port of Djibouti. China has provided $2.3 billion to support mobile networks and Internet services, covering remotest areas, and provided $1.63 billion to support industries, particularly the sugar industry, for which four plants were set up.
Russia and China are striving to fill the vacuum created by the new US political situation, but they offer an authoritarian model in which absolute rule, incomplete freedom and iron-fist prevail. The American system is capable of correcting its mistakes and has many cards in its hand, some of which have begun to emerge, such as the protectionist policies suggested by Trump, by a recent declaration of a trade war to protect America, and the US dollar is another deadly weapon, to its new role as a source of energy in the new global market, the next scene in the international conflict will be different from what has happened because the rules of the game have changed.
