On Monday, the Trump administration released its first National Security Strategy, an annual presentation mandated by Congress, and the changes from the Obama administration it signals are striking.
It effectively reverses the Obama thesis that the problems in the world were caused by the U.S.: America was a predator nation that imposed its political will on a hapless world and claimed an inordinate share of its natural resources – and America’s future lay in focusing on and correcting its misdeeds.
The Trump victory in 2016 increasingly seems more and more like a much needed corrective in terms of the role the U.S. plays in the world. Mr. Obama acted as if he were oblivious to the growing significance of Russian, Chinese, and Iranian efforts to achieve superpower status.
The Trump NSS underscores that the U.S. is indeed in a superpower competition, touts American exceptionalism as a force for good in the world, and makes no apology for America’s pursuing its military, economic, and international political interests even when they may clash with those of other nations.
In the course of his terms in office, President Obama seemed never to forgo an opportunity to denigrate the United States. From the very start, in his “Cairo Speech,” he decried past U.S. Mideast policy as favoring Israel and alienating the Arab/Muslim world and pledged to reach out to Muslim nations to make amends. He soon thereafter announced plans for similar outreaches to Russia, China, and Iran.
The problems of the world, he made clear to friends and foes alike, were the result of American excesses. How then could the world not react positively to American penance?
But it didn’t take long for this notion to be decisively debunked. In fact, the perception of a newly skittish and even timid America soon took hold and informed the foreign policies of the outreach targets. China began formulating its annexation of parts of the South China Sea. The Russians jump-started their designs on Georgia and Ukraine, among other adventures. And Iran took a quantum leap in its support for terrorist movements around the world.
The new NSS also departs from the Obama contention that resolving the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the key to peace in the Middle East, with Israeli settlements constituting impediments to any resolution. This approach could be attributed to the overarching desire to reach out to the Arab/Muslim world but it also led to underestimating the potency of the Arab Spring across the Middle East. The Trump approach places the problem between Israel and the Palestinians at the doorstep of the Palestinians, who have refused to acknowledge realities on the ground.
Realism drives the Trump NSS. In sum:
The United States must marshal the will and capabilities to compete and prevent unfavorable shifts in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. Sustaining favorable balances of power will require a strong commitment and close cooperation with allies and partners.
This is a far cry from President Obama’s comment, when announcing the end of the war in Iraq, that “the tide of war is receding.”