Fourth in a Series on U.S. Global Leadership: "I had hoped your President would attend (the G20 meetings in November). He kept enticing me with the promise he'd attend, but he doesn't seem to be living up to it." So said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who chairs this G20 round, about the U.S. Administration's engagement - or lack of it - in global leadership. He spoke to us yesterday at the Council on Foreign Relations, having addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Monday and reminding the world that Africa's 1.4 billion people have no permanent voice on the U.N. Security Council.
Two principles really matter here. The first one is that the U.S. needs to show up if it is to exert and sustain serious, credible global leadership. It needs to be present. It needs to be engaged. This is not the case in U.S. foreign policy currently, as we abdicate membership and participation in numerous multilateral bodies while destroying our ability to invest and influence by vanquishing the U.S. Agency for International Development and Voice of America. The many vacuums we are creating are being gleefully filled by China, Russia, and others. Even when we are engaged, we tend to drift off like so many moths to the flame. The second principle is to honor commitments made, either at a macro level to the G20 process or a micro level in indicating to the G20 Chair that we will show up and participate in November. Forget about it!
South Africa is a BRICS member, that mnemonic concoction of nations created by Goldman Sachs. BRICS started with Brazil, Russia, India, and China, subsequently adding South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to the fold. Yes, of course, we need to be leery of BRICS. After all, China is our adversary and Russia and Iran are our enemies. Disengaging from global leadership and ceding the playing field to BRICS and some of its bad actors, however, is not the way to deal with adversaries and enemies. We need to heighten engagement. We need to be in their faces. This takes strength, determination, and thoughtful, sustained concentration that, sadly and dangerously, are not hallmarks of the current U.S. Administration.
