The image he posted on his social media site, Truth Social, speaks volumes. Donald Trump is wrapped in the American flag, carrying a model of the globe on his shoulders. An image can be worth a thousand words. The message is clear. The man in the picture believes he bears the burdens of the entire globe, not only those of the US, whose greatness he restored after it had nearly vanished at the hands of his predecessors, per his claims and exaggerations.
Inside the enormous globe he carries on his shoulders are countries, wars, bitter conflicts, faltering economies, masses of refugees and the hungry, broken states, and others relentlessly sharpening their claws to seize control of their neighbors. It is as though he wanted to say that all the issues of this world have been thrown onto the shoulders of one man. The man sitting in the Oval Office is troubled by the fact that days are slipping through his fingers. He dreams of stretching himself across the history books with many medals on his chest, foremost among them the Nobel Peace Prize.
The story is not simple. The man alone leads a massive country that alone leads the world. He puts out a fire here and prevents the flames from spreading there. Then the image appears: the chief firefighter of this burning globe, and he means to say that he is the only firefighter. He does not hesitate to enumerate the wars he has ended or prevented. It is no exaggeration to accuse the man of exaggeration, but this is the reality. No major agreement can be woven without the difficult American thread, whether we like it or not. We have not seen a picture of Vladimir Putin wrapped in the Russian flag and carrying the globe on his shoulders. We have not even seen him carrying a model of the Soviet Union, demanding that it be restored and awakened from its deep sleep in the history museums.
Rarely does the leader of a major country dare to make policies and choices so personal. That is why the world lives on Mr. President’s time, Mr. President’s style, and Mr. President’s mood. He is constantly surrounded by his senior aides who compete in praising him and attribute every virtue and achievement to him. This is a rare scene in Western democracies. It brings to mind the tributes of members of the Regional Command when they were given the chance to speak in the presence of Saddam Hussein. We have not seen a picture of the emperor of China wrapped in his country's flag and demanding victory in the competition for world leadership. His decisive demands are limited to returning Taiwan to the Chinese embrace, and it is fortunate for the world that his patience has yet to run out.
President Trump is a strong man: the strong leader of the strongest country in the world. That is why he presents himself as the chief physician in the "global village" hospital. He receives sick regions or chronic problems, or he summons them. He then announces the success of the treatment, and the picture follows. The world is highly complex, however. Its illnesses are not cured by shock diplomacy, nor by telephone diplomacy, warm handshakes, or pats on the shoulder or the hand.
Treating chronic diseases requires an accurate diagnosis. It requires careful attention to the health of the patient and the health of his neighbors. It demands reflection, insight, and knowledge of both the patient's medical history and the history of the disease. Care must be taken that ointments do not inflame burns, that painkillers do not leave side effects, and that sores do not form under the weight of ceremonial bandages. Solutions are thorny. Some regions suffer from the burdens of geography, the curse of history, or the convergence of both calamities.
That is Trump. The world has no choice but to deal with him or live with him. He presents himself as the greatest goal scorer ever, as though he were about Messi, Mbappe, and Ronaldo. However, the field of the globe is different from the football field. The powerful do not respect the rules of the game. Cruelty is a tradition, brutality is an option, and the game continues without mercy. Blows target the sovereignty of states, their stability, their economies, and their borders, if they do not go so far as to threaten their existence. In this game, it is not enough to put the ball in the opponent's net. The deadly game must be stopped, and the cloak of international law, respect for rights, and coexistence must be placed over this field once again. Building bridges is far more important than shaking the net.
Countries near and far welcomed the memorandum of understanding that prevented America, Israel, and Iran from sliding into another destructive war. Trump confirms that Iran has pledged never to obtain a nuclear weapon. This outcome is certainly significant. But everyone, near and far, knows that the nuclear issue is not the only problem. There is also Tehran's regional behavior. There is its missile arsenal and its drones, which were targeting neighboring Arab states only yesterday. There is its pursuit of destabilization, "parallel armies," and the infiltration of states through the backdoor. Before all of that, there is freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the wellbeing of the global economy.
Since the signing of the memorandum, Tehran has been behaving as though it had received or wrested a huge gift in exchange for a concession on the nuclear issue. It is behaving as though it has the keys to the strait, which it has rendered the backbone of its arsenal in the next phase. The words of the Iranian army yesterday deserve a pause. It said that "our control over the Strait of Hormuz could constitute a security mechanism leading to the expulsion of America from the region." The insistence on monopolizing the keys to Hormuz could become more dangerous than its proxies. The flow of goods would be captive to the mood of Iranian politics. The world cannot live with this, and the countries of the region cannot live with it either. Concessions to Iran regarding its ownership of the strait (violating the laws of seas and straits) gives Iran a decisive weapon in battle to win the regional cup, its leadership.
Every state has the right to compete for the regional cup and its leadership by building an attractive model of progress grounded in economic prosperity, technological advancement, and deeper cooperation. Competing with the weapon of the strait, on the other hand, leaves the countries of the region facing difficult choices, the first of which is preparing for more difficult days ahead.
