'The Ugly American'

A novel with the eponymous title was written in the sixties by two Americans, Eugene Burdick and William Lederer, that was later made into a Hollywood movie. The book was a critique of the scatter-brained foreign policy pursued by American administration in the sixties' cold war era, particularly in south-east Asia with Vietnam looming large as the backdrop. If still alive, what title would the duo choose to describe the bizarre and hallucinatory spectacle put on by Trump administration in recent days making the world look agape? In all probability, they would reprise the old title because the only difference between then and now is the scale and reach of the folly and arrogance of brazen power on display by American policy makers.
Every country has had its due share of mafias, criminals, gangsters, bullies and sundry characters of the murky underworld. America has been no exception to this and might have more of them. At various times in its history, names of outlaws like Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, Bonny Parker, John Dillinger, Al Capone and others have hogged the headlines. One thing common to all of them was that they were not only anti-social elements but also outlaws, wanted by law enforcers, dead or alive. To put it more succinctly and graphically, they were beyond the pale of law. The power they exercised was personal, arbitrary, never formal, statutory or consensual. The deals they struck with rivals or allies were in smoke- filled backrooms or sleazy houses of ill repute. Morality and legality had no role to play in their lives and works. American society and economy survived them because they were fewer than law enforcers and less powerful than the law enforcers. But more importantly, the sundry outlaws could be put down because they lacked formal, legal power to use it officially.
What makes the present day America dangerous not only to Americans but to the whole world is that people who believe in brute power and bullying are now in roles of policy makers and implementers. This has never happened before in the history of America and this watershed event, the taking over of American government by thug-like functionaries, has already adversely affected lives of many Americans and people in countries in various parts of the world. More of such sufferings and perhaps worse is threatened for the future. The present Trump administration has successfully resurrected the spirit, norm and practice of its wild west and gangster culture of yore and has brought to bear them on running American domestic and foreign policies. Majority of Americans and people around the world now face a life of uncertainty and fear because of the criminal behaviour of Trump administration. The hubris and ruthlessness of naked power could not be demonstrated more brazenly than it has been by the megalomaniacs now at the helm of power in America. They are the present day incarnate of 'ugly Americans', surpassing their predecessors many times more and giving the sobriquet a greater sinister import. Good natured Americans and peace loving people beyond America have to sit up and try to make sense of what is staring them in the face. It is not a Hollywood horror movie to enliven the holiday season. What they are facing is nothing short of an existential threat. What makes it more menacing than a rushing comet or a pandemic is that it is home-grown and mutating like a lethal virus. Before discussing what needs to be done at this critical juncture of history let us have a brief overview of what damages have already been wrought by the cabal of arch criminals now wielding power in the American citadel and what lies in store for America and the world if the power-hungry Americans are not stopped in their tracks.
Soon after taking office president Trump, with the help of notorious Elon Musk, started downsizing the government which turned out to be nothing short of mayhem. Services of hundreds of thousands of federal employees were terminated overnight. Without carrying out a study or survey, many federal agencies were either winded down or their programmes were curtailed. These included Department of Education, Department of Environment, Department of Disaster Management and the USAID. Grants to important research bodies including some Ivy League universities were discontinued. Food stamp aid programme for the poor has been drastically curtailed. All these affected the livelihood and wellbeing of Americans. The ruthless drive to detect undocumented immigrants has seen brutal arrests and humiliating incarceration of suspected illegals. Many of them have been deported to third countries without giving them the opportunity to present their case in courts. Even a sitting judge has been arrested by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency for taking a lenient view on immigration. The former Director of the powerful federal agency FBI has been arraigned because he had given evidence against president Trump. The ruthless conducts of ICE members have led to civil disturbance in Los Angeles, Portland and lately in Minnesota. A countrywide protest is going on all over America against the wanton killing of a woman in Minnesota by ICE. Far from retreating from the inhuman policy of hunting down undocumented people, president Trump has threatened to invoke the infamous war-time law of interning people of foreign origins.
Internationally, president Trump and his cronies have turned the prevailing global order guiding trade, climate change and security. Ignoring America's allies, president Trump unilaterally declared that the war in Ukraine would be stopped and the territory occupied by Russia would have to be ceded by Ukraine. Then, in an about turn, he punished Russia through additional sanctions. This was followed by a one-to-one summit with Putin in Alaska, keeping American allies in the dark. In the summit president Trump's bonhomie produced an agreement with Putin that time was not ripe for ceasefire, a position long held by Russia. Trump's pyrotechnics made it difficult to know which side he was supporting or what was his goal in unilateral diplomacy, sidelining America's long time allies. In short, his utterances and unilateral diplomatic gestures have thrown the trans-Atlantic alliance haywire, threatening to reduce it in to insignificance.
Contrary to his touting in the presidential campaign that he would stop all wars, he changed the moniker Pentagon, replacing it by the Department of War. He encouraged Benjamimn Netanyahu to 'finish the job', a shorthand for annihilation of the Palestinians. This was followed by his press conference where he revealed his plan to occupy Gaza and build a Mediterranean Riviera on the coast. When asked by a journalist under what law would Gaza be taken over president Trump said, without batting an eyelid, that it would be owned under American law. The subsequent announcement of Great Gaza Plan in a White House press briefing showed that, prompted by his real-estate-oriented son-in-law and assisted by an old time crony by the name of Tony Blair (known in his country as 'liar Blair'), president Trump had long been planning to grab the prime land in Gaza, encouraging Netanyahu to complete the demolition part of his grand real-estate project. Lest they incur his disfavour, the European allies and lackeys in the middle-east toed the line and signed a so-called peace agreement which envisages reconstruction and development of Gaza under a Board of Peace headed by president Trump. The burning issue of an independent Palestine state was made so much conditional of governance reforms that it is now nothing more than a pie in the sky.
While continuing negotiation with Iran, America green-lighted pre-emptive attack by Israel and boasted that Israel was making very efficient use of American weapons. When it transpired that Israeli bombing had failed to penetrate the nuclear sites deep under mountains, president Trump ordered American stealth bombers to bomb the Iranian nuclear sites. These were acts of undeclared war by Israel and America but there was no condemnation of these violations of Iranian sovereignty by the European or Arab countries.
The war-mongering policy of president Trump saw the build up of American naval force in the Caribbean aimed, ostensibly, at stopping drug trafficking from Venezuela. The subsequent unprecedented act of invading Venezuela without declaration of war and kidnapping of its president followed by declaration by president Trump that the country, along with its oil resources, would henceforth be run by America revealed his real intention: to take possession of oil. Though there was some mention about violation of international law, the European allies did not go so far as to condemn America, lest 'Daddy' (fond address by NATO chief) becomes annoyed.
With his latest declaration that 'one way or other' America will take over Greenland, the European allies have at long last reversed their policy of appeasement to president Trump and called the spade a spade. They have not only condemned the announcement of the American president but sent armed forces to Greenland to defend it against invasion, Trump style. In the face of European solidarity, president Trump has again weaponised trade and slapped 10 per cent additional tariff on European countries supporting Denmark. For the first time in history America is now in an eye ball to eyeball confrontation wtih its European allies. It will be interesting to see how the situation pans out. But what has already been driven home in the corridors of power in many countries is the fact that a cabal of 'ugly Americans', led by a deranged monster is now in power in America. This should be an object lesson for Europe. The European countries should realise that if it can happen once, it can happen again. Based on this realisation they should forget about trans- Atlantic security alliance and form their own continental security architecture.
In this bleak scenario, the good news is that the ugly Americans are in the minority. If there is such a thing as democracy in America, they will be overwhelmed by the majority.

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