A shrinking America

America is getting smaller almost by the week. Not in any physical sense, there is still the same landmass but the American footprint has shrunk by several sizes under the Trump presidency. The downsizing is especially evident in the Middle East where historical complexities are not in the Trump playbook. He is a foreign policy novice, poorly read and even more poorly travelled outside of those countries that are home to his business interests and according to some familiar with the inner workings of the Oval Office, little concerned with matters beyond American shores.

The naiveté of Trump is perhaps best exampled with his statement regarding the Middle East peace process shortly after taking office. He promised to help to broker the ‘ultimate’ deal and pushed the portfolio across the desk to his son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner who knows as much about foreign policy as the average hamster. Possibly less. It was Kushner who put together a small group tasked to make it happen but the task force was seen by many as being far too sympathetic to the Israeli cause and tin-eared to the Palestinians. A year on and with nothing accomplished Trump is being forced to admit that even he has been unable to make what is probably the toughest deal on the planet after the Kashmir issue.

It is all too easy to snigger and finger point from the sidelines at this failure, but it does matter in the wider scheme of international relations. A series of missteps by all sides has reduced a delicate balance to an unstable and volatile powder keg. Jerusalem remains the flashpoint. All American aid to the Palestinians has been cut. Those that need to be talking are not. And Little America plays a lot of golf.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.