In international affairs, unilateral declaration of ways to improve the state of world peace and prosperity rarely, if ever, work.
Unhappily, this is not the first time that a U.S. president has failed when trying to unilaterally make the world, and America, a “better place” to live in. In January 1918, when the defeat of Germany was clearly about to occur, President Woodrow Wilson presented a 14-point plan for global peace to the U.S. Congress in the annual President’s State of the Union address. The plan was insightful and included a proposal for the formation of a League of Nations. He proposed that “a general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.”
The speech and, in particular, the League of Nations proposal was attacked by former president Theodore Roosevelt, who said that the proposal was “high sounding and meaningless” and “would simply add one more scrap to the diplomatic waste paper basket.” Georges Clemenceau, the prime minster of France, was as sarcastic as Mr. Roosevelt and reportedly said the “The good Lord only had 10.”
Thus while Woodrow Wilson’s 14-point plan was accepted as the basic agenda for the Germany surrender talks at Versailles, the Treaty was not a pathway to peace but largely ignored his proposals and targeted war cost reparations which destroyed the German economy. The U.S. Congress refused to join the League of Nations. His fatally failed proposals set the stage for the Second World War.
Today, if course, we have the extraordinary circumstance of a U.S. president voicing his personal opinion on any and all subjects without the filter of any social grace or common courtesy.
Unhappily, we risk the danger of ignoring as well as ridiculing what he says, because of his manner and abrasive personality. Because, every once in a while he does get it right. His castigation of the signatories of NATO for their persistent and deliberate shirking of their financial commitment – putting their money where their constantly open mouths are – is a most recent example. Our own prime minister’s response is a Trumpism dressed in pretty clothes when he stated that Canada would honour its word by “working toward” spending two per cent of our GDP on military commitments. Justin Trudeau didn’t say we would get there. We are guilty of an “alternative fact” posture and deserve President Trump’s scorn.
Another feature of Mr. Trump’s view of the world was unveiled when he chastised German Chancellor Angela Merkel for unilaterally making a deal with Russia for gas supplies. In his view, as part of NATO, she should have “thought of America First.” He linked this demand to the superior quality of American military equipment used by U.S. forces and available for sale to NATO countries – but no matter. Mr. Trump is not seeking a return to the economic and political isolationism of the U.S. Rather he is pursuing a return to American preeminence in the global and political marketplace.
At this point, President Trump’s quest to Make America Great Again is heading toward failure – not because of his plan to start a global trade war, no matter how destructive it may be – but because, like his more saintly predecessor, he has decided to go it alone.
I wonder if he has ever watched “To Russia With Love”?
Alan Murdock is a local pediatrician.
