***. “The mismatch shows the risks in Mr. Trump’s personality-driven foreign policy, his bet that he can solve the world’s problems and defend America”s interests by his charm and force of will. In Mr. Xi, the U.S. president faced a counterpart last week who is well-versed in Mr. Trump’s desire for praise and pomp, and with an apparent strategy for how to exploit it. The result, analysts said, was a summit that illustrated the growing confidence of China..alongside a strategically muddled U.S. foreign policy under Mr. Trump.” [ Anton Troianovski: “Trump’s Push For Friendship Is Unrequited.”; New York Times; 5/17/26 ]
This post presents excerpts from “Every Nation for Itself”. [ Robert Kagan; The Atlantic; March, 2026 ]. We invite YOU to read the entire article. We invite YOU to THINK in what Kagan says – mull his words and implications……
16] “Trump’s megalomania is transforming the United States from from international leader into international pariah, and the American people will suffer thre consequences for years to come.”
1]. “President Trump wants to return to the 19th century’s international order. He will leave America less prosperous – and the whole world less secure.”
17] “..Trump’s exaltation of selfishness, rests on profound ignorance of the true sources of American strength. So much of America’s influence in the world has derived from treating others as part of a community of democratic nations or of strategic partners.”
***. “Especially important it is to realize that there can be no assured peace and tranquility for any one nation except as it is achieved by all.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]
3] “Americans are entering the most dangerous world they have known since World War II…The U.S. will have no reliable friends or allies and will have to depend entirely on its own strength to survive and prosper. This will require more military spending, not less, because the open access to overseas resources, markets, and strategic bases that Americans have enjoyed will no longer come as a benefit of the country’s alliances.”
9]. “Trump and his supporters seem to believe that the rest of the world will simply accommodate this new American approach, and that allies, in particular, will continue to tag along, subservient to a United States that cuts them loose strategically, exacts steep economic tribute from them, and seeks to establish a ‘concert” with powers that directly threaten them. But the radical shift in U.S. strategy must force equally radical shifts among erstwhile friends and allies.”
12] “The mere existence of the United states and the liberal order it supported offered small and medium powers an opportunity denied them by centuries of multipolarity… The American order promised a higher standard of living, national sovereignty, and the legal and institutional equality.”
***. “Trump’s foreign policy is not so much immoral as it is amoral.” [ Richard Haass ]
2] “The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy made it official: The American-dominated liberal world order is over…The American might that upheld the world order of the past 80 years will now be used instead to destroy it.”
4] “Americans are neither materially nor psychologically ready for this future…They have grown accustomed to the world operating in a certain way: Largely agreeable and militarily passive European and Asian allies cooperate with the United States on economic and security issues… Americans…think it is the normal state of international affairs, likely to continue indefinitely.”
5]. “Perhaps more extraordinary than America’s ability and willingness to play the dominant role was the readiness of most other great powers to embrace and legitimize its dominance…America’s allies made trwo remarkable wagers: that the United States could be trusted to defend them whenever needed, and that it would not exploit its disproportionate might to enrich or strengthen itself at their expense.”
*** “To achieve [enduring good relations between states], the conduct of diplomacy should conform to the same moral and ethical principles which inspire trust and confidence when followed by and between individuals.”
[ Dean Acheson; former U.S. Secretary of State ]
6]. “..the grand bargain of the American order after 1945. And it was what allowed for the extraordinary peace and stability of the subsequent decades.”
7] “Trump has openly celebrated the end of the grand bargain…launched aggressive tariff wars against virtually all of America’s allies…waged ideological and political warfare against European governments and explicitly threatened territorial aggression against two NATO allies, Canada and Denmark.”
8] ‘..the administration’s National Security Strategy regards Russia and China not as adversaries or even competitors burt as partners in carving up the world.”
***. “[The commander] must be able to see the situation as a whole, attribute to each object its relative importance, grasp the connections between each factor in the situation, and recognize its limits. All this implies a gift of synthesis which, in itself, demands a high degree of intellectual capacity.” [ Charles de Gaulle ]
10] “The consequence of a newly unreliable and even hostile United States, therefore, will likely be significant military buildups by former allies. This will not mean sharing the burden of collective security, because these rearmed nations will no longer be American allies…They will owe nothing to the United States…At the very least, they will not be the same countries Americans know today.”
11] “In a multipolar world, everything is up for grabs.”
13] “Do we know how far China’s perception of its rightful sphere extends?”
***. “Even in war moral power is to physical as to three parts out of four.” [ Napoleon ]
14] ‘..China and Russia are not at all satiated, status quo powers. They are dissatisfied, have-not powers…chronically unhappy with American global supremacy..”
15] “This is the new world that America is entering, voluntarily shown of its greatest assets…When Russia or China went to war, it went alone. When the United States went to war…it had the support of dozens of allies.”
18] “Trump has managed in just one year to destroy the American order that was, and he has weakened America’s ability to protect its interests in the world that will be. If Americans thought defending the liberal world order was too expensive, wait until they start paying for what comes next.”
***. “Mankind will never know what it was spared because of risks avoided or because of actions taken that averted awful consequences. – if only because once thwarted consequences can never be proved.”
[ Henry Kissenger; former U.S. Secretary of State ]
With Justice For All 