Global Horizons
January was a month of unprecedented truth telling for the West, with the Canadian PM leading the way by declaring that the partial falsehood of an international rulesbased order premised on US hegemony stood ruptured,andcalling on middle powers to garner their own strengths to avoid subordination.
The author points out that nations of the Global South had long ago come to this conclusion and have been managing risks while building resilience to maintain autonomy and sovereignty. The stage is now being set for a more equitable and multipolar international order.
Fresh from success in Venezuela, the Trump administration renewed its territorial claim to Greenland, which met with strong European resistance and further ruptured the Trans-Atlantic alliance. Meanwhile, as the US massed forces around Iran, GCC countries scrambled to prevent a conflagration that would destabilise the region.
President Trump’s foreign policy narcissism reached new heights with his January 15 announcement of a charter of his “Board of Peace”, positioning this as a new international organisation where he held a permanent veto and leadership role. 27 countries signed on, including 13 Muslim countries, but major powers stayed away, with the European Council expressing serious doubts about elements of the Board and its compatibility with the UN Charter.
A new U.S. National Defence Strategy released during the month, like the National Security Strategy of a month earlier, prioritised the U.S. Homeland and the Western hemisphere. It maintained ambiguity on the U.S. role in the Indo-Pacific, calling for deterring China “through strength, not confrontation” and urging regional allies to do more for collective defence. Russia was described as a manageable threat to be handled by Europe. This posture will accelerate the ongoing process of de-risking among U.S. allies.
Finally, the author covers developments in an extraordinary month for Indian foreign policy, during which India hosted major summits with strategic partners ranging from Germany to the European Union and the UAE, shoring up agreements to boost economic, defence, security and technological cooperation. The conclusion of negotiationson an India-EU FTA was announced, as a freshly minted India-EU partnership carried the potential to be a gamechanger for both Europe and India.
On February 2, an exchange of messages on Social Media between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi heralded a long awaited trade deal between India and the U.S., which was a welcome development for a relationship which has been in limbo over trade frictions for months.
To read this issue please click Global Horizons, Vol. IV, Issue 1.
