As the American President, Trump's duty is to his own people first and foremost, which is why he places a heavy emphasis on restoring the US' internal economic strength and protecting against the ever-present threats of jihadist terrorism and transnational drug gangs. These goals are admirable and don't pose any danger to responsible international actors, but the problem is that the Trump Administration's attitude towards Russia and China is decidedly hostile, no matter what the policy document says about Washington's wiliness to work with them on areas of shared interest.
Both multipolar Great Powers are portrayed as strategic competitors who want to revise the existing American-led international order, which is objectively true even if the wording casts this fact in a negative light, but then the National Security Strategy goes off on several tangents describing how these two are supposedly undermining regional stability and engaging in a host of Hybrid War conspiracies across the world. Whether through what the document characterizes as information warfare or subversive economic policies, the US sees its competitors — not itself — as one of the driving factors of international instability. Moreover, the US brushes off Russia and China's serious concerns about its missile defense technology and conveniently blames Iran and North Korea for this development, both of which Washington says it will continue to thwart.
Codifying long-held suspicions into formal policy, the National Security Strategy also encourages enhanced cooperation with BRICS member India, both on a bilateral basis and in a quadrilateral format alongside Japan and Australia. The document also emphasizes that the US will continue to utilize what it terms as "economic diplomacy" in unilaterally and multilaterally sanctioning states that it's opposed to. "Embracing energy dominance" is another key point of the US' strategy, as is the concept of "Principled Realism", which is described as balancing power and values on the world stage. Altogether, the policy paper is typical Trump and proves that he's delivering on his campaign promises, but in his sincere quest to secure American interests, he might inadvertently end up destabilizing the world even more.
Andrew is joined by Adam Garrie, Director at the soon-to-be-launched Eurasia Future outlet Trump Doctrine, and Gilbert Mercier, author of "The Orwellian Empire", editor in chief of News Junkie Post, and geopolitical analyst.
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