FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Being a professional diplomat in the Trump era is like being a coachman in the car age...
Geopolitical thinker Robert Kaplan once suggested that “while understanding world events begins with maps, it ends with Shakespeare.” Today’s global state is less exalted. It begins with Donald Trump’s social media posts and ends with the business interests of the US president’s friends and family.
A recent publication by the European Council on Foreign Relations concludes that Trump's almost exclusive reliance on friends and family as envoys to broker deals to solve difficult foreign policy problems poses systemic risks for Europe.
The president's use of special envoys follows a pattern as familiar as the distinctive rhythm of a Morse code operator. While Europe should fear this "new diplomacy without diplomats," it should also try to understand it.
In a world without shared principles and functioning institutions, special envoys are a necessity. The only thing holding the world together is the fact that it is the same people negotiating to end the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran, and they are able to call the president at any time. The Peace Board is no substitute for the UN, but the golf course can be as good as the negotiating table.
Diplomacy is changing because the nature of American power is changing. After World War II, American hegemony provided public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, and collective security. Today, America is no longer willing or able to provide these goods. It prefers instead to act as the leading global disruptor.
Other countries should accept this fact and behave accordingly, given that the main goal of US foreign policy is now to remind the rest of the world how powerful it is. The US is practicing a form of theatrical hegemony in which all wars are simply “special operations” and all failed special operations (like the one in Iran) are global problems to be solved by others.
In Trump’s foreign policy, speed is more important than direction. Frantic unpredictability keeps everyone off balance. Allies can’t plan, adversaries can’t calibrate, and institutions can’t adapt. Just when the world has absorbed one shock, another has arrived.
This messy approach is what American political theorist Stephen Holmes calls “hierarchy without order.” You could also call it the Agamemnon doctrine, in which revenge, both for enemies and treacherous allies, is inevitable.
This is a worldview that assumes that states are unequal, that even great powers are not all that great, and that these powers should enjoy their privileges and keep the spoils of war, but on condition that they recognize the supremacy of the United States. It is not a 21st-century version of sphere of influence politics, because in this view hegemony is not driven by interests, but by pride and anger.
Being a professional diplomat in the age of Trump is like being a coachman in the age of the car. Simply put, you are no longer needed. Your expertise determines your uselessness.
Special envoys are the new peacemakers because they are unencumbered by expertise and unfettered by bureaucratic process. And the fact that Trump’s middlemen, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are steeped in private business conflicts of interest is an advantage; without conflicts of interest, there would be no incentive to resolve conflicts militarily. The fact that they talk business all the time should make the world believe that they have peace in mind.
Living in Trump's world is like riding the Ferris wheel at the Prater, Vienna's historic amusement park where vertigo is the key to profit. It's a world shaped by middle powers, not middle powers; middle powers, think of Turkey, the Gulf states, or Pakistan that dream of being middle powers.
America is in a hurry, so there is no time to shoot real movies, only trailers. Some trailers will be quite powerful, as in the case of Venezuela; but some will have the opposite effect, as in the case of Iran.
What matters is time. Conflicts should be short, and if America cannot end them, it will let others do it. This is the true meaning of power for Trump: it is not the ability to impose your will on others, but rather the ability to force them to solve your problems. The role of special envoys is to make everyone else understand this. / Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “Financial Times”
E ka bere Shtepine e Bardhe si furre buke, FAMILY BUSSINES. Kesaj bote i jane lagur frenat e nuk dihet ku do perfundoje.
Tamam furrë buke është katandisur Shtëpia e Bardhë..kush mundet hyn ,blen por edhe shet miell..Në vend që të jetë një ZYRË SECURITY ku nuk mund të hyjë pa leje as bleta që bën mjaltë, sepse edhe ajo pickon.Kështu ndodh kur një vend drejtohet nga gjysmakët,njëlloj sikur të ishte pa drejtim,apo njëlloj si anija në det të hapur me shtrëngatë,me motorë të fikur,dhe pa timon.Në rastin e USA,shtrëngatën e kanë krijuar gjysmakët në krye të shtetit.Mbolle erën,korr furtunën thonë shqiptarët...
Po kopjon administraten Kenedi 1960-63, per krizen e raketave kubane, por situata tani eshte ndryshe.Edhe ne ate periudhe ka patur kritika,megjithese linja jo zyrtare familjare Kenedi funksionoi. Situata e sotme eshte pak me e rrezikshme, pasi si SHBA dhe Rusia nuk drejtohen nga politikane e diplomate vizionare,por nga manjate pronash e linja spiunesh,qe hyjne ne konflikt e nuk dijte ta menaxhojne.
Bravo Pamfleti. Ndryshe nga shumë shqiptarë trushpëlarë, ke dalë nga kornizat dhe po mendon me paanësi. Faleminderit që u hap sytë atyre që akoma e presin shpëtimin pikërisht nga të huajt që na bëjnë gropën.