Politics at the water’s edge
Championing good governance and democratic values was long the hallmark of American leadership on the world stage — or so the myth goes. Once, when American diplomats came knocking, nations understood the package deal: aid came with accountability, alliances with expectations.
More to the point, American politicians once took pride in the norm of partisan politics ending at the water’s edge. Republican and Democratic administrations alike presented a united front abroad. No more.
The norm-busting Trump administration
The Trump administration shattered that norm spectacularly. It questioned the usefulness of the 70-year NATO alliance, torpedoed a painstakingly negotiated nuclear deal with Iran, and snubbed democratic leaders while cozying up to dictators.
Simply put, imagine the geopolitical chaos if the Ford administration had closed Nixon’s historic opening to China instead of building on it. That’s the level of capriciousness the Trump administration displayed on the world stage. Nowhere is this more glaring — or unfair — than in the case of Cuba.
Cuba: A case study in schizophrenic US foreign policy
The Cuban people rejoiced when the Obama administration began normalizing relations with Cuba. After five decades of embargo-induced economic purgatory, they thought their long national nightmare was finally over. Granted, the embargo wasn’t lifted outright, but the thaw offered hope.
Then along came Trump, having pulled off arguably the biggest upset in US presidential history. He promptly put Cuba back in purgatory, rolling back Obama’s normalizing policies and relisting it as a state sponsor of terrorism. Once again, the Cuban people — not the government — were left to bear the brunt of American caprice.
Fast forward to today, and in one of his final acts as president, Biden removed Cuba from that same terrorist list. The timing is as cynical as it is heartless. After all, this is the same Biden who co-signed Obama’s normalization policies as vice president. So why wait until the 11th hour to redress only a fraction of Trump’s damage?
The Cuban people had every reason to expect Biden to reinstate those policies on Day One of his presidency. Yet reports suggest even this token gesture was less about principle and more about trolling Trump ahead of his return to power. But this isn’t trolling Trump; it’s trolling the Cuban people, who now face the Sisyphean certainty that Trump will undo this gesture the moment he’s sworn in next week.
Successive US administrations have treated Cuba with the textbook definition of schizophrenic foreign policy. From Obama’s rapprochement to Trump’s rollback to Biden’s eleventh-hour half-measure, the Cuban people’s fate has become a cruel ping-pong match played by US presidents. Their economy, stability, and hopes are collateral damage in this partisan farce — beyond the water’s edge.
China: A more suitable superpower…?
I’ve written too many commentaries to count, warning developing nations against seeing China as a more suitable superpower patron than the United States. Yet, given this American schizophrenia, it’s no wonder nations across Latin America, Africa, and beyond are looking to China for stability and partnership.
Where the US offers inconsistency and arrogance, China promises predictability and investment — with no moralizing strings attached. Frankly, American democracy looks fickle, unreliable, and even dangerous. US presidents are treating innocents everywhere, from Iran and Ukraine to Panama and Greenland, as guinea pigs in their political game of function.
Meanwhile, Chinese autocracy appears stable, reliable, and even generous. Never mind that it ignores human rights abuses and undermines national sovereignty with debt-trap diplomacy.
The bottom line is this: ten years ago, no one in their right mind would’ve imagined choosing between America and China as superpower patrons would feel like choosing your poison. That’s how far America has fallen from grace on the world stage.
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