Damir Črnčec: Vrnitev h koreninam / Returning to the roots
Returning to the roots
In his victory speech later that evening, the newly-elected American president Donald J. Trump promised to his voters and all Americans America's return to its roots, the renewal of the American dream, and the reconstitution of America as the strongest economy with rebuilt infrastructure and millions of new jobs. He told the world community that “while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone – all people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict”. Trump remained true to his pre-election promises that America would come first and that it would become great again.
However, the international community, neighbors, partners and allies are baffled trying to figure out the nature of America's future foreign policy. Is America going to give way to the already seen isolationism, which has never ended well for Europe, or to moderate globalism deriving from an assumption – yes to globalism but in America’s way and when it is in America’s interest. European allies at the eastern flank of NATO are concerned over Trump’s alleged good relations with Russia and his statements that those not paying their agreed “membership fee” should not count on America’s support. NATO member states, including Slovenia, have undertaken to contribute 2 percent of the GDP to defense purposes. However, the Slovenian Armed Forces are receiving well under 1 percent of GDP. Political heirs who in the former totalitarian Yugoslavia were giving to the Yugoslav army, which in 1991 attacked Slovenia, twenty-five times more money – that is 25 percent of GDP, are now giving only crumbs to the armed forces of democratic Slovenia. Trump has reminded us that we had joined the club and undertook to follow the club rules; still, we do not comply with our obligations. To be honest, Poland has already met the two percent target, Baltic states are not far behind, and I am sure that no part of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty will be put in jeopardy. An attack against one ally will be considered as an attack against all allies and America will fulfill its part of the deal just as it has the right to demand and insist that we respect the commitments undertaken. The free ride is over.
Trump's election is good news for the efforts to stop the radical Islamic invasion of the West. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and many others are paying and bribing Western politicians, including the Clintons, and, at the same time, financing Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and construction of mosques across Europe and America. The mosques where the most radical form of Islam – Salafism (Wahhabism) – is being preached. The Western governments are not concerned about this systematic Islamization which is aimed at destruction of our democracies. They are concerned about political correctness, alleged hate speech, Islamophobia, fascism, populism and similar left-wing propaganda nonsense. But in reality, they are concealing their own globalism, the aim of which is to destroy nations and states as we have known them in the last centuries, and to destroy democratic benefits such as freedom of speech and association, and the right to live a life in a way we want. The whole thing is a systematic propaganda-agitation plan, a neo-Marxist paradigm based on the principle that you do what you accuse others of doing. They are comunofascists, hate speech is their modus operandi, violent protests represent the abuse of the right to association, yelling about Islamophobia actually means support for Islamization. The whole thing is sugar-coated with populism that is served to us by “liberal” media.
The European conformist left-right policy, an integral part of which is also Slovenian policy, is to blame for Brexit and for terrorist attacks of Islamic extremists in the West that left many people dead. Angela Merkel is directly responsible for Brexit and for the dramatically low level of security of her own population and the population of Europe. And she was arguing about the values after Trump’s victory? That was extremely cynical and perverse from someone who is responsible for the construction of the Munich wall – a four-meter wall which, 27 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, will separate a residential neighborhood from a migrant center housing 160 illegal migrants. Under the leadership of the French-German pair Hollande-Merkel, Europe has become mired in the swamp and is now unsuccessfully trying to find the way out. I hope and wish that the new American president will help Europe win that challenge. What we need is to forge a strong transatlantic partnership rather than being obedient to rulers and dictators from our neighborhood.
Many are concerned about the unknown nature of Trump's foreign policy and fear that it will be hostile to traditional strategic transatlantic relations. However, I myself believe that his policy will be of an entirely different character. Those who believe that Trump will allow Russia to do what it wants, the same as Obama, are very wrong. It is evident that America is stronger when it has strong and responsible allies. Reciprocity provides the basis for good relations and I think that Europe will soon sober up. In the EU and NATO, we, from the European point of view, witness the Middle East chaos, feel Russia’s pressure on our eastern member states, monitor radicalization and Islamization of Turkey, face the migration pressure from Africa, support Palestine terrorist organizations while displaying apparent humanity, and deal with the failed integration policies of member states. And there seem to be no solutions. Left-right politicians are concerned about the growth of “populism and nationalism”, while refusing to understand that all this is a result of their misguided policies. They have intimidated their own population and neglected their needs and wishes. Now, however, they are surprised to see what is going on. They refuse to admit that they have a problem and that the problem is their own fault.
Trump has identified a problem in America and offered a cure. For the benefit of America and NATO and EU partners and allies, I hope that Trump will offer a common leadership vision, taking into account that the world looks completely different from the European point of view. Individual European countries, unfortunately, need guarantees, as well. It will be easier for us to face the challenges of the globalized world together. The challenges resulting from enhanced economic, political and military influence and ambitions of China in Asia, Europe and Africa. It is paradoxical that it is exactly the globalization that has enabled development of a strong national state of China, whereas, on behalf of the very same globalization, attempts have been made to destroy Western countries. America has returned to its roots. It is time for Europe and Slovenia to do the same.
Published in Slovenian Weekly Reporter, on November 14, 2016, http://reporter.si/clanek/kolumnisti/vrnitev-h-koreninam-482718
Damir Črnčec, PhD, Dean at the Graduate School of Government and European Studies, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damir_%C4%8Crn%C4%8Dec
Twitter: @DamirCrncec
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrncecDamir/?fref=ts
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14.11.2016