US Relations with World’s Nations Are Collapsing

by Wayne Madsen, Strategic Culture:

America’s relations with nations around the world are collapsing. Donald Trump’s frequent xenophobic and racist outbursts, unprecedented in modern history, have resulted in foreign ministries around the world calling in senior U.S. diplomats for explanations about Trump’s comments. Trump’s actions have resulted in more damaging consequences for overall global stability.

After Trump, during a White House meeting with a congressional delegation, referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and 55 African countries as “shitholes,” the U.S. ambassador to Panama John Feeley figured the time had come to announce his resignation. Undoubtedly, Feeley was aware that even the well-heeled owners of condominiums in the Trump Ocean Club Panama hotel-condo complex had had enough of Trump when they decided to remove the Trump name from what is now known only as the Ocean Club Panama Owners Association. The move was a sign of worsening U.S.-Panamanian relations. What happened in Panama illustrates that it is not merely U.S. foreign policy that is being adversely affected by Trump, but also U.S. economic interests.

The United States is vying with China and France for control of Africa’s natural resources. Trump’s actions have placed into jeopardy ongoing U.S. oil, construction, and rare-earth mineral extraction business opportunities in Africa.

Condemnations of Trump’s “shit hole” remarks were swift. The African Union demanded Trump apologize to not only Africans, but all people of African descent in the world for comments over which the union expressed its “infuriation, disappointment and outrage.” South Africa’s Foreign Ministry called in the U.S. Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires in Pretoria to deliver a diplomatic protest note.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) condemned Trump’s remarks as “repulsive.” U.S. diplomats in Haiti, Ghana, Senegal, and Botswana were also called on the carpet by foreign ministry officials. Senegal’s president Macky Sall said, “I am shocked by the words of President Trump on Haiti and Africa,” adding, “I reject them and condemn vigorously. Africa and the black race deserve the respect and consideration of all.” For some African countries, Trump’s insult was the second slap they received. Earlier, Trump placed Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Chad on a U.S. visa ban list, although Sudan was later removed from the list.

The Burkina Faso newspaper L’Observateur Paalga ran perhaps the most embarrassing headline for Americans, particularly U.S. military personnel stationed in the West African nation: “Warm kisses from the shithole countries,” adding that Trump is a “cursed clown” and a “president of shit.”

Trump’s abrupt severance of $2 billion in U.S. security assistance to Pakistan has all-but-doomed Indian-Pakistani diplomatic talks over the issue of Kashmir, a region contested between the two regional nuclear powers. In a tweet having severe repercussions on the Indian sub-continent and all of south Asia, Trump accused Pakistan of “lies and deceit” over its actions in neighboring Afghanistan.

Not to be outdone by Trump, American neoconservative ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, whose Sikh parents hail from India, declared that Pakistan had played “a double game for years.” She also announced the immediate cancellation of $255 million in U.S. assistance to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry called in David Hale, the U.S. ambassador in Islamabad, for an explanation of Trump’s statement, including Trump’s reference to U.S. assistance to Pakistan over a 15-year period amounting to $33 billion.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif responded to Trump in his own tweet: “Pres Trump quoted figure of $33 billion given to PAK over last 15 yrs, he can hire a US based Audit firm on our expense to verify this figure & let the world know who is lying & deceiving.”

Pakistan’s National Security Committee issued a statement following Trump’s outburst: “Recent statements and articulation by the American leadership were completely incomprehensible as they contradicted facts manifestly, struck with great insensitivity at the trust between two nations built over generations, and negated the decades of sacrifices made by the Pakistani nation.”

While the right-wing Hindu nationalist government of Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi was gleeful over Trump’s tweet about Pakistan, it was confronted with a closer Pakistani-Chinese alliance. China announced that it was building an offshore maritime port off the strategic port city of Gwadar. And in a financial blowback against the U.S. Treasury, Pakistan announced that Pakistani-Chinese trade would be based on the Chinese yuan and no longer in U.S. dollars. In addition, Pakistan was looking at several billions in investments arising from China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, an infrastructure project encompassing the land, sea, and air routes around the globe.

Read More @ Strategic-Culture.org