Echoing hard-left and postliberal detractors of the United States, the NSS levels the scurrilous accusation that “After the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country.” Previous administrations may have gone overboard in their enthusiasm for free trade, a rules-based international order, and promoting freedom and democracy abroad. The NSS aims to reflect President Trump’s reorientation of U.S. foreign policy around “the continued survival and safety of the United States as an independent, sovereign republic whose government secures the God-given natural rights of its citizens and prioritizes their well-being and interests.” To accomplish these desirable goals, states the NSS, the United States must maintain the world’s most powerful military and must cultivate effective alliances; control the nation’s borders; reinforce national infrastructure; and bolster the world’s strongest economy by fortifying the nation’s industrial base, energy sector, and expertise and entrepreneurship in science and technology. According to the NSS, President Trump “negotiated peace between Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the DRC and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and ended the war in Gaza with all living hostages returned to their families.” Yet only in the case of Armenia and Azerbaijan has the Trump administration brokered a substantial peace agreement; meanwhile several of the ceasefires for which it deserves credit are at best barely holding.
Author: Peter Berkowitz, Real Clear Wire
Published at: 2025-12-27 19:47:15
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