Great powers sometimes isolate themselves through overreach. The United States under Donald Trump is in that zone. By aligning reflexively with Benjamin Netanyahu on almost everything — from Palestine to Lebanon to Iran — Trump has really damaged America’s pre-eminent stature in world affairs.

As a superpower on the wane, Trump’s America is still able to project force but it no longer commands respect, it cannot build consensus and will possibly, after the Iran debacle, not even instil fear as it once did.

Recent developments in the Persian Gulf capture this shift quite starkly. After failed negotiations in Islamabad, Washington has lurched towards measures that threaten to disrupt one of the world’s most vital oil, gas and nitrogen corridors and escalate the conflict far beyond its current boundaries. The message to the world is unmistakable: the United States is prepared to act alone, even when the consequences are global and there is widespread opposition.

The more fundamental concern is not one single decision, but the general drift of US policy. Trump’s West Asia policy has fused American decision-making with Israel’s war objectives to an unprecedented degree, the kind of convergence that leaves little room for independent judgment. And it is precisely this convergence that is driving Washington’s isolation.

The damage was visible even before the war with Iran, and what started the rupture was America’s open backing of Israel’s genocidal, ethnic cleansing project in Gaza. The war with Iran has further strained alliances across Europe and Asia, weakening partnerships that took decades to build while opening........

© National Herald