No longer "indispensable": The United States is losing its status as the most important international power

on February 19, 1998, Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State in U.S. history, said in an interview with NBC-TV The Today Show: "If we must use force, it is because we are America; we are an indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further into the future than other countries." She was referring to the use of force against Iraq and the regime of Saddam Hussein. Albright left office on January 20, 2001, and on September 11, horrific terrorist attacks took place in New York and Washington, D.C., which changed the history of not only the country but also of all mankind. The United States used force against Iraq - and made a mistake.

Even before that, at the end of 1999, US President Bill Clinton supported Putin's choice of. George W. Bush invited Putin to his ranch and drove him around in his car, trying to make him a friend, and he was wrong. The list goes on and on.

Churchill is credited with a famous saying: "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried all other options.".

History has yet to answer the question of whether the US actions against Iran were justified from the point of view of global or at least regional security.

But what cannot be disputed is that in the first five months of his presidency, Donald Trump has done more to turn the United States into a "replaceable" nation than his predecessors.

Particularly sensitive steps were: the actual elimination of the USAID Technical Assistance Agency, the de facto paralysis of the World Trade Organization and the transition to regulating trade relations on a bilateral basis, based solely on their own interests, threats to reduce the military presence in Europe, extremely indecisive and inconsistent actions (despite strong and consistent statements) to end Russia's war against Ukraine.

After World War II, the US transatlantic and transpacific partners agreed to an indispensable US military presence in Europe and East Asia, respectively, based on consensus, not coercion, realizing that at the same time, American leadership in the Bretton Woods system would create a unique balance of economic and security interests.

This balance, which has never been perfect, but still ensured the functioning of the global security and trade system, has now been upset. The ongoing tariff war has resulted, for example, in a rather tense dialogue between the United States and its key allies in East Asia, who are trying to convince the United States that it is pointless to impose unjustified tariffs on them while simultaneously demanding that defense spending be increased to the "NATO" 5% of GDP.

The unilateral military action against Iran, about which NATO allies were not informed, was contrary to the spirit of the defensive alliance: if Iran had retaliated by attacking US bases or territory, could it have been considered aggression and Article 5 activation demanded? George W. Bush did exactly that after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

On the Tomahawk Strike on Syria in 2017 under Trump 1.0 The US warned not only its allies but also Russia. This time, there was no such courtesy.

The NATO summit, which has just ended, was an example of the masterful diplomacy of Secretary General Rutte, who was able to bypass almost all the sharp corners around Trump and achieve the main result - obtaining assurances of commitment to the US obligations under Article 5. Europe is obviously afraid of the US's "substitutability" and is even ready to promise to spend 5% to stay under the US umbrella.

At the same time, the function of an "irreplaceable" nation for Russia is performed by a small and poor North Korea, which is simply building factories to produce drones and ballistic missiles to hand over to Moscow.

Despite the fact that East Asia is a region that is among the top priorities of the United States, Washington has not yet noticed the sharp acceleration of the DPRK's weapons programs, which not only increases the threat to Ukraine, but also seriously disrupts the security balance in Asia.

The ability to be superior to others and to see further than others should be proved in practice, not defended on social media.

In the situation around Iran, many people were surprised by the rather weak and vague actions of Russia and China. The condemnation of the bombing of Iran by Israel and the United States, telephone conversations calling for an end to the conflict, and even a special meeting of the UN Security Council were not memorable.

Some experts interpreted this as a sign of weakness or indecision on the part of Iran's partners in the "revisionist quartet," but there is another point of view. According to Napoleon's advice, "never stop your enemy when he is making mistakes," so we should wait for the development of events.

Iran's nuclear program has not been destroyed, although it has obviously suffered significant damage; Putin does not stop attacking Ukraine, although there are more and more signs of crisis in the Russian economy; China continues to deny its assistance to Moscow, despite the existence of reliable intelligence on the forms and scope of such assistance, and is persistently seeking ways to correct the accumulating negative trends in the economy; North Korea is becoming an increasingly greater threat to East Asia.

We will have a chance to see if those above us can see further.