There is one major question that's raising concerns in the international arena, particularly in the US and especially by large think tanks: What is America's status around the world? Will its position be any different after the coronavirus crisis?
We can answer the question starting with President Trump’s stance for which the US is paying the price today. In the beginning, he undermined the crisis and did not comprehend its real weight, which allowed the virus to spread quickly. The presence of US intelligence around the world is also worth highlighting. What about its capacity to predict a massive crisis such as the coronavirus? Did the US intelligence fail?
There is certainly a real problem in Washington’s ability to break through the new iron wall, which is Chinese today and not Soviet. This was before the coronavirus crisis and with it, things became even worse.
Sixteen intelligence agencies were unable to retrieve accurate information about the rapid spread of the virus, whether in China or the Iranian interior. This US intelligence failure did not stop there but also extended to North Korea and Russia.
The Trump Administration failed when it was reluctant to take decisive measures relating to lockdown or quarantines before the pandemic exacerbated. Did Washington choose money over the health safety of its citizens? Another question comes to mind while thinking about the future of the “American Empire”: Did healthcare services in the US fail to confront this unexpected health risk?
Overall, medical services are good in the US and receive around 17% of the GDP, but this experience has shown that it is unable to face crises, which means that its ability to predict such incidents is nearly nonexistent.
Another matter is the clear and glaring US deficit in medical equipment, especially respirators, and had there not been rapid recruitment of automobile production lines and large factories, the US may have witnessed its worst humanitarian crisis ever since it began, leaving millions of victims even if it were still at its beginning.
It is worth it to think of the logistical situation of US health institutions. The world has witnessed healthcare workers in the US wearing trash bags instead of the necessary personal protective equipment, a matter that drew the mockery of its rivals.
Dennis Ross, a special adviser to the former US president Barack Obama, revealed in his last reading through the Washington Institute for Near East his disappointment in US global leadership. The US’s future ability to continue with the American century that was planned in the late nineties by new conservatives will inevitably be doubted in the coming days.
Ross sees that Trump’s nationalist approach is secondary because it doesn't take into consideration the idea of the global village, where globalization can lead to a summer or winter, in other words, it may lead to cold and peace or heat and war. Now we saw coronavirus taking over the world amid lack of unity to confront it.
America's position will surely be affected in the coming years and decades, especially that Washington has found itself alone in the field. This is not surprising according to Ross, as it is normal for you not to find your allies when you need them after you’ve scolded them. He is particularly referring to Europe here, in addition to several countries around the world where experience proved that the US always disappoints its friends and allies.
America after the pandemic will not be like before, especially that China and Russia have made global strategic influence. The world witnessed Russian planes landing on American land carrying medical aid and equipment to save American lives, despite that the situation in Russia is complicated in terms of the coronavirus, as Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out.
Perhaps there’s not enough time and the virus crisis in the US is critical, but arriving late is better than not arriving at all, in the sense that there is still time, however minimal, for the US to lead collaborative international efforts against the pandemic without taking into consideration pragmatic financial calculations or delusions of an outdated empire.
Washington can show the world that it is a city that can scientifically enlighten the world and deliver medicines for free to those in need around the globe, or at minimal costs, and perhaps then humanity will forgive the American governments and we wouldn’t tell people that their sins are unforgivable. Only then perhaps would we once again imagine the US leading the world again, and indeed, we would want that to happen.
Who will tell the resident of the White House to desert this deadly unipolar US mentality?
