In a remarkable political comeback, Donald Trump was re-elected president of the United States with help from, among others, tech tycoon Elon Musk.
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The victory of Trump, a convicted felon, symbolises America’s repudiation of its exceptionalism as a “shining city upon a hill” distinct from the Old World – the dashing of the nation’s long-held moral conceit amid voters’ willingness to succumb to self-interest, even though Trump was described as a “fascist” during his campaign by his own former chief of staff John Kelly.
In this view, Trump’s second term will mark another turn in US foreign policy towards an interest-based transactional approach. How will it impact the geopolitical issues of the day?
The most immediate issue is the de facto US and Nato-vs-Russia war in Ukraine. Even though no one believed Trump when he promised to end the war in one day, few doubt that his inclination would be to press for a ceasefire, with the likely result that Russia will keep the Ukrainian territory it has gained through its “special military operation”, regardless of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s latest “victory plan”.
As for Moscow, it is fresh from the success of the Brics summit it hosted in Kazan last month, a prestigious affair attended by dozens of world leaders and high-ranking officials, including China’s President Xi Jinping, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres. With Trump, the self-styled master of the art of the deal, now back in the picture, Russian President Vladimir Putin can be expected to bargain hard over Ukraine and even woo Europe.
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If peace in Ukraine could be achieved before or not long after Trump’s inauguration next January, it would kick-start his attempt to break up the American “empire lite”, thus bringing forward the start of a multipolar world order that could see a European identity inclusive of Russia, while the Global South continues to emerge, with China still playing a dominant role in Brics.
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Global reaction to Trump's win in the US presidential election
Global reaction to Trump's win in the US presidential election
