President Donald trump believe that it will be able to transfer from the private sector in the world of foreign policy their main professional skill is the ability to negotiate. But foreign policy, like allowing its diplomacy cannot be reduced only to the practical conclusion of transactions. When short-term transactions take precedence over long-term strategy, America loses. And this will create problems for the new President and his administration who are trying to implement his plan to “put America first”.
Perhaps the greatest concern in the dangerous approaches to foreign policy, trump calls his obvious desire to mend fences with Putin’s Russia. It is unclear whether such views trump the result of stupidity, or is it a product of coercion from the side of Russia. But not only his attitude to Putin and the Kremlin’s motives should disturb all Americans. The problem is that he has repeatedly talked about transactions as a way to improve relations.
It will be for transaction? We should all think about what is ready to give the President his Russian counterpart for the sake of easy agreement. While trump’s comments indicate that he intends to bargain about the two interrelated aspects of American foreign policy since the end of the Second world war: this is a strategic contribution to the rules-based system of international politics and ethical leadership based on a commitment to the principles of human dignity and freedom.
Always confident trump may think he is ready to sit with Putin at the negotiating table, to put on his all the questions and to withdraw from the negotiations a winner. Unfortunately, this erroneous view, which he apparently defends. At a press conference on 27 January that trump gave in conjunction with the Prime Minister and Theresa may, he awkwardly read a prepared memo about the importance of special based on universal values relations with the United Kingdom, and then reaffirmed his commitment to be kind to deal with Putin. Thus, trump has made it clear that under him the US could emerge as a strong relationship with Russia and China, as well as with Britain. How quickly he forgot about what our relationship with London based on shared values and contribution to the system established after the Second world war.
28 Jan trump insisted in a telephone conversation with Putin, and did it the next day after his senior adviser said in the morning program that the White house is “considering” the issue of lifting sanctions against Russia. According to a brief statement of the contents of the telephone conversation, trump and Putin exchanged pleasantries and agreed to hold further talks on cooperation in the fight against terrorism. And the two presidents agreed to discuss the issue of “restoration of business relations”. As has declared to Agency “Interfax” senior Russian MP Dmitry Novikov, these are code words meaning, among other things, the lifting of sanctions.
Don’t be fooled. Trump is not a visionary statesman. He sells hard-won American leadership in the world, and sells for cheap. And because everything is done for the sake of shaking hands with a dictator like Putin, it is not just shameful, but also a bad deal.
Probably, trump thinks that he is smart game, luring Putin’s idea of recognition by the United States illegal invasion and attempted annexation of Crimea, as well as the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions imposed over Moscow’s actions on the Peninsula and for instigating the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. But trump with his team overlooked one important point. As soon as he sits at the negotiating table with Putin to make the Russian leader need transactions (which include the rejection of the principle that the state should choose which security to pledge them, as well as the recognition of Russian claims on the limitation of defensive capabilities NATO), America immediately defeated.
The fact is that no matter what concessions trump and his team will achieve from the Kremlin. Putin signing deals that undermine the principles of international law, such as premature lifting of sanctions, or change American policy with respect to Crimea, the White house will become a participant of the system, based on agreements and not on the rules. Such unscrupulous transactions seeks Putin and other autocratic leaders. And these are the approaches to world politics are trying to leave in the past those who stress fighting for world peace, global prosperity and human liberty.
© AP Photo, Alexander ZemlianichenkoПортреты Donald trump and Vladimir Putin in the pub Union Jack in Moscow
Of course, the property trump to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Moscow. The United States should be prepared to discuss specific initiatives that contribute to strengthening world peace and security. That is what my team from the us mission to the Organization for security and cooperation in Europe, in order to obtain the powers and budget of the Special monitoring mission of OSCE in Ukraine. In addition, the U.S. should negotiate on countering foreign fighters from terrorist groups about improving the quality of public administration, the fight against anti-Semitism and so on. These initiatives create a common agenda with your comparative criteria and lists of measures for the implementation of which we can be held accountable by other countries — and they can call us. But news Kremlin talks on the fundamental principles of the international system, which has made an enormous contribution generations of American political leaders and diplomats, therefore, to lose even before they start.
American leadership in close cooperation with close partners and allies and with the support of the hard power of the US and NATO supported the establishment of such a system, where no transactions (and their inevitable violation), which in Europe, for centuries, flowed the blood. Although Putin really wants to conclude the second Yalta agreement — the largest deal of the 21st century the division of Europe into spheres of influence — such an agreement would be unconscionable rejection of American moral leadership, and the world will become more dangerous.
The consequences of the rejection of these principles would extend beyond Europe. The Chinese are certainly watching to see how decisively the United States to uphold the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, while Beijing is planning its next steps in the South China sea. In fact, it will create a new era of uncertainty and will give rise to a world where everything is permitted. In such a world, countries have to fight for benefits, including military means, in order that they could make deals and not be the subject of such transactions.
This is one of many aspects that is misrepresented in the isolationist foreign policy trump under the slogan “America first”. One of the greatest achievements of American foreign policy was the recognition that in a world where the USA are undoubtedly the most powerful country, the interests of the American people it is best to defend a system that does not depend on pragmatic agreements and transactions, but which creates the rules and norms of state behavior, allowing to conclude win-win agreements. Provide such a system in peace and prosperity benefit the Americans and their allies around the world.
After the election of trump in November, the diplomats with whom I talked daily, there were two reactions. Russian diplomats were jubilant and gloating, not only due to the fact that U.S. elections have become perhaps the most successful special operation of the Kremlin since the cold war, but also because the desire to please trump Putin, they saw a harbinger of the collapse of the American-led solidarity, thanks to which Moscow could be held accountable for violation of international law. They saw a future in which Moscow’s willingness to use destructive force will facilitate the achievement of transactions with the United States to the detriment of Europe and its citizens.
Other diplomats from all over Europe were shocked and dismayed. First, they are concerned that the United States as the guarantor of European security since the end of world war II, will abandon them to their fate and abandon of the rules designed to protect the continent from external aggression. The height of the cold war in 1975, U.S. President Gerald Ford and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, along with 33 heads of state and government signed in Helsinki the Final act of the conference on security and cooperation in Europe. It outlined the provisions of the commitment to open societies and free markets, the peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ford at the time, shrewdly observed that leaders will be judged “not by the promises we make and promises we are”. More than forty years, the United States is the main partner of Europe in fulfilling the promises made in Helsinki. Thus, they help to ensure European security.
© REUTERS, Kevin LamarqueПрезидент USA Donald trump has signed a decree on the withdrawal from the TRANS-Pacific partnership
But in addition to the very real concerns about the security of my European colleagues bitterly complained about the loss of America as they respected America, which for all its faults could inspire people around the world. Even diplomats from countries where the elite loves to hate the US openly admitted that they liked America after 8 November. Diplomats from various countries of Europe and Eurasia. Someone is in the country-members of NATO, some former Soviet republics, someone neutral and non-aligned States, some of our closest friends, and someone- a difficult partner. 48 hours I received text and email messages from a dozen odd ambassadors. “We all grieve with you, — they wrote, adding, We more than ever need you and American values.” Superpower America makes not only economic and military power, but also values, and also the country’s willingness to defend them.
Of course, the new administration must find effective channels of communication with Moscow, and the United States should be prepared to cooperate with Putin, welcoming and supporting those actions that reflect its commitment to repair the damage inflicted by the Russian attacks on the international order. But America’s goal should not be to rewrite the rules, and in their strengthening.
Speaking 36 years ago at the inauguration ceremony, former US President Ronald Reagan reminded the American people: “No Arsenal, no weapon in the arsenals of the whole world is not as powerful as the will and power of the spirit of free people”. Many years of effort to build based on the truth of the system of international politics is the enduring moral and strategic Foundation of American foreign policy after world war II, throughout the cold war and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. America leads the entire world, protecting the power of the spirit of free people. And we must not stop along the way.
