Alfa and Omega of Trump’s New World Order
By Masood H Kizilbash
Islamabad, Pakistan
Since the advent of human civilization, the World Order in one form or the other has continued to exist. It was always framed by the mighty power of the time - mighty in terms of economic and military power - and woven around promotion of its self-interest.
President George H. W. Bush defined the New World Order in 1990, no sooner the USA emerged as a single super power on the globe after the dismemberment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He started unveiling his vision from June, 1990 till he spelled it out in specific terms in his address before a joint session of the Congress on 11th September, 1990. The broad features were a world based on democratic principles, respect for human rights, peaceful resolution of conflicts and control on the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
The US continued to steadfastly follow the agenda of the NWO till the swearing-in of Trump as the President on January 20th, 2017, adjusting it slightly over a period of 27 years but never compromising its essential element of imposition of cultural, military and economic will on the other countries of the globe. This is evident from its role as the policeman by resorting to armed interventions in other states the actions of which were perceived by it to be “aggressive”. The first action started with the Gulf War in 1991 on the pretext of liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi aggression. The war completely decimated Iraq. As if that was not enough, another war was imposed on Iraq in 2001 to oust Saddam Husain on a false allegation of possession of weapons of mass destruction. A few other such and similar actions that can be cited are Somalia in 1993 in support of rebels, Yemen in 2001 on the suspicion of the presence of AL Qaeda network after September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Afghanistan in 2001 to remove the Taliban government and dismantle the Al Qaeda network there, Syria in 2011 in support of rebels to oust Basher Al Assad and Libya in 2011 in support of rebels to oust Muammar Gaddafi.
The US armed forces and intelligence network all over the globe continued to lend liberal financial and military support to surrogate regimes, no matter how unpopular, autocratic and corrupt they were. The sole criterion for helping them out was simple - whether or not they acted on the lines dictated by the super power, based on the promotion of its self-interest.
The diktat given to the states was to liberalize their economies through deregulation and privatization of the state-owned entities so as to allow the private sector to operate in all areas of economic activity, based on free play of market forces. It was implemented with the support of specialized institutions like the International Monetary Fund, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, international Development Association. Reeling under huge indebtedness and poverty, most Third World countries complied. The scope of the reforms was broadened to include elimination of all barriers to free flow of capital and opening up of the economy to foreign investors without discrimination across all sectors.
These reforms were institutionalized in the charter of the World Trade Organization, established in 1995 in supersession of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff. The organization ensured free flow of not only goods but also services, reduction in tariff and quota barriers, removal of subsidies, unhindered flow of foreign investment, and protection of intellectual property rights. An open world trading and payment system was put in place to enable multinational companies to fully exploit natural resources of the states and make huge profits.
The NWO did benefit the US in terms of growth in trade and investment. However, it promoted inequality in the US of obnoxious magnitude, as elsewhere in the world.
Joseph E Stiglitz in his book “The Price of Inequality” estimates that even after the financial crisis of 2008/09 “the top one percent managed to hang on to a large piece of the national income - a fifth - although some of their investments took a hit.” He further adds that “wealth was even more unequally distributed than income with the wealthiest one percent owning more than one-third of the nation’s wealth.” Thus, the average American reaped nothing from the NWO of Bush despite trillions of dollars expended in wars abroad and maintenance of a wide network of intelligence agencies in foreign countries.
Donald Trump was emphatic in his election campaign that NWO benefitted a small coterie of the rich class rather than America or Americans at large comprising white workers and middle class. Trump won the elections with the vote of this class whose standard of living worsened on account of three factors. Firstly, with the American capital moving out of the country for investment abroad, job-creation and wages became stagnant within America. Secondly, with low wages at home and far ineffective social security benefits and inadequate public support program added to the decline in the standard of living. Thirdly, in the absence of strong unions of workers and a floodgate of immigrants readily willing to work at low wages the standard of living of white working class suffered.
Trump had spelled out his vision of a New World Order during his election campaign and vowed to supplant the old order, which had held sway for nearly three decades. Surely, it posed a direct threat to the beneficiaries of the old order and the institutions created to prime the wheels of the system. Despite their strong opposition, Trump laid down the framework of his New World Order in his inaugural speech on 20th January, 2017. The salient features of his NWO are America for Americans, meaning thereby as under:
1. Non- intervention and non- interference in other countries by withdrawing financial and military support to surrogate regimes abroad.
2. Renunciation of globalization and its replacement with inward-looking and protective policies, aimed at employment of American capital at home in infrastructure, technology development, industry and social sectors by shutting out import of foreign products and services and placing restrictions on inflow of foreign factors of production including capital and labor.
3. Non- imposition of American culture and way of life on other nations
4. Affirmation of old alliances and formation of new ones against radical Islamic terrorism
5. Friendship and goodwill with all nations of the world, permitting them to put their national interest first
Trump hurried to implement his vision by issuing two executive orders on 25th January, 2017 - within five days of his Presidency. The first order authorized construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border to stem the tide of immigrants from Mexico and the other restored the expired Secure Communities Order of Previous Administrations, aimed at empowering Immigration and Customs Enforcements to more aggressively arrest, detain and expatriate the undocumented immigrants to their countries. These actions were followed by another order on 27th January, imposing a ban for ninety days on the immigrants and visa holder travelers from seven Muslim countries, namely, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US. It sent a wave of protests within and outside US. The judges overturned the Order even in appeal filed by the Administration. Apart from these actions, the other mentionable measures consistent with his vision of NWO are authorization of expansion of three oil pipelines with the material manufactured in the US, proposed reduction in federal regulations on US manufacturers and proposed withdrawal from Trans Pacific Partnership for allowing lower tariffs to twelve Pacific Rim countries.
Trump’s NWO seeks to reverse three decades old world order. It is a formidable task in the context of its stiff opposition by the powerful beneficiaries of the system namely, rich Americans, US Establishment and a host of institutions created for its support besides the puppet regimes on the globe.
Another potential threat comes from an aggressive role of Russia and China in global politics. How far the US will allow it to happen in the isolationist overtone of Trump’s world order? It is a million–dollar question.
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