World a poorer place as American influence torched
As American cities burn they put a torch, at least for a time, to a portion of Washington’s geo-strategic power.
As American cities burn, they are putting to the torch not only a sense of community and common decency, but, at least for a time, a portion of Washington’s geo-strategic influence and power.
The civil disorder in reaction to death in custody of George Floyd will diminish the moral and even the physical ability of the US, and Donald Trump to influence events in the world.
The gruesome killing has shocked the world and sickened every civilised human being who has seen it. It is almost beyond belief.
Over the weekend Trump made powerful statements about Hong Kong and announced what seem to be important measures the US will take to try to limit Beijing’s oppressive new attitude to Hong Kong. He said the US would begin ending its special relationship with Hong Kong. The announcement was heavy on rhetoric and threat but a bit unclear on what it precisely means and when it will be implemented. “My announcement today will affect the full range of agreements we have with Hong Kong,” he said.
Nonetheless, central elements of what Trump will actually do remain unclear. It’s not obvious for example whether punitive tariffs applying to China will also apply now to Hong Kong. The US business community in Hong Kong has been urging the White House to move cautiously and it is likely that the Trump administration is following its usual playbook of giving itself maximum flexibility as to what actions it finally takes.
Trump also announced the US was fully withdrawing from the World Health Organisation.
But both these potentially epic announcements got almost no attention in the US, and not that much abroad, because of the roiling street violence and disorder in US cities.
The moral force of the US denouncing Beijing’s violent, coercive and undemocratic approach in Hong Kong is one of the tragic casualties of the Minneapolis murder.
And it is not at all clear that the US, with 40 million unemployed and suffering all the frustrations and anxiety of COVID lockdowns, and the sprawl of conspiracy theories, on left and right, the virus has spawned, can resume its normal calm any time soon.
At the same time, it is important to try to keep a sense of proportion, and some sobriety, in the analysis of what is going on in the US today.
At any time in the past 40 years, an incident such as the cruel killing of Floyd would have produced a massive community reaction. It follows a string of such deaths of black men at the hands of white law enforcement officers in recent months.
These incidents may be few in number, but their impact is understandably vast. But it is a melancholy truth that the US has seen far worse race riots in the past, notably after the 1992 beating of Rodney King.
That means the US can recover from this bout, as it has in the past, and there is no reason to see the disturbances as a unique consequence of Trumpism. Nonetheless, both the President and his opponents should speak about each other with more civility.
The US will suffer from this partial, temporary loss of its influence as will the rest of the world, especially Hong Kong’s brave democrats.
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