Daily Times

Trump’s cabinet prioritises and serves its national interests at the expense of those of the global community.

Preservation of national interests can be examined by most countries in the contemporary international scenario by putting the cause of the global community on the brink of destruction.

Particularly, the leading economic powers have been setting the trends from WWI to WWII, from Palestine crisis to Kashmir crisis, from embarking on the civil war in the Middle East to Yemen crisis, from breaching Iranian nuclear deal to selling devastating military equipment, and from the war on terror to President Trump holding the highly respected and powerful office in the US.

The self-centred approach has clinched the psychic patterns of the policymakers of multiple countries, instigating and adding fuel to the fire in economic, political, and ecological spheres just for the sake of temporal national interests. It threatens the interests of the global community. Trump’s cabinet prioritises and serves its national interests at the expense of the interests of the global community. Especially, his climate change policy is putting the whole human race and the planet on the verge of destruction.

The world has been afflicted by severe climatic variations, such as extreme weather, higher temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, rise in sea level, soil degradation, acidified oceans and extinguishing of millions of species. However, all leaders of the world other than President Trump have accepted the reality of global warming.

All of them-except Trump- have not only have acknowledged the role of human actions in climate change and warming the planet but also pledged to the request of the UN to reduce Co2 emissions through stern measures. But, Trump passed some short-sighted and hilarious statements about global warming, which included, “We should be focused on magnificently clean and healthy air and not distracted by the expensive hoax that is global warming,” and “Give me clean, beautiful and healthy air, not the same old climate change bullshit! I am tired of hearing this nonsense.”

In early 2019, he expressed in a tweet, “What the hell is going on with global warming [sic]? Please come back fast, we need you.”

He delivered the third-longest speech in the state of the union that lasted for 82 minutes but did not even mention “climate change” or “global warming” in spite of knowing that the US was generating about 15 per cent of global carbon emissions. The slogan of America first, announced and followed by President Trump, is misrepresenting the American nation, its founding fathers and their intellectual as well as its political legacy. For instance, the first American president and founding father, George Washington, also followed the policy of “America First” by adding the principle of “non-intervention” in his foreign policy to save American interests and to thwart American involvement in others’ wars. The same policy was extended by his precedents including Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and many others who extended the same policy of protecting American interests, peacefully and wisely.

Their policy not only protected American interests but also gave a boom to the American economy by building a good and prestigious repute of the American nation as well as her influence in the regional and global political spectrum.

In early 2019, he expressed in a tweet, “What the hell is going on with global warming [sic]? Please come back fast, we need you”

But the attitude and policies of President Trump are not only posing a grave threat to American interests but also hurting her influence and role in global politics on a broader spectrum. The policies may be fruitful for a short period, but not for the long term. His extensive rebuttals from international commitments and pledges are degrading the US, which it has never observed in the past. His 2017 decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord, determination to end Iran’s nuclear deal and the resultant shootdown of the US drone by Iran are the blatant examples of the disrespect and reduced role of the US during the reign of Trump.

Even, the rebuttal remarks of Trump about climate change are increasing the threat to the national security of the US. According to a report published in 2019 by the Department of Defense, 79 US military installations, around the world, are under threat because of harsh climatic variations such as recurrent flooding, drought, desertification, wildfires and thawing permafrost.

Furthermore, the report revealed the constantly-expected difficulties in conducting military operations in Africa, Europe, Arctic and elsewhere. Even, former US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis warned about climatic resistance by stating, “Climate Change is impacting stability in areas of the world where troops are operating today ….. It is appropriate for the combatant commands to incorporate drives of instability that impact the security environment in their areas into their planning”. Interestingly, the US intelligence community also believes in the expected threat by climate change to US interests. Director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats reported in 2018, change to global climate systems would raise the risk of humanitarian disasters, conflict, water, and food shortness, population migration, labour shortfalls, price shocks, and power outages.”

President Trump should play his role in bringing peace. Instead of following a myopic approach, he should restore the American prestige and honour that was transformed by American founding fathers by fulfilling commitments of his precedents, especially about reducing CO2 emissions and following the Paris Agreement. All other leading powers should also prefer the interests of the global community in place of chasing their national interests at the expense of interests of the whole world. The inclusion of philosophy of “reverence for life,” presented by Albert Schweitzer, should be made mandatory by the UN for all countries regarding climate change and ethically dealing with nature.

If we do not collectively fight against global warming, outcomes of industrialised and nationalized policies, which are aggravating the condition, would be more lethal for our generations. That is not the time to think, but to act.

The writer is a student of legal studies and a senior content writer at a leading IT solutions company in Lahore; Wangard International. He can be reached at ch.changezi.sandhu111@gmail.com