Elon Musk's attack yesterday on Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, whom he called a "little man," raises questions about the adequacy of the Trump administration.
I recall the book by Vali Nasr, who worked on Richard Holbrooke's team as a special envoy to the Middle East. Nasr showed how in the 2000s, after the occupation of Iraq, the US consistently destroyed the basic elements of its presence in the Middle East and Pakistan. Now, we see all this on a much larger scale in Europe. Trump's actions leave no doubt that the security system tied to the US can be instantly destroyed by capriciousness.
Taking American weapons is too costly for the same reasons (yesterday it became known that the US stopped providing parts for Ukrainian F-16s). In short, modern Americans are irresponsible, changeable in their moods, but want to live on the security rent that they are not ready to provide.
It is obvious that Washington will surrender Taiwan, the Baltics, and all of Central and Eastern Europe as soon as a crisis situation arises. It is useless to hope for them. We must admit that betting on the US was a strategic mistake. It is necessary to move to a multi-vector policy, which gave much more opportunities in the 90s.
This does not mean that we should break relations with the US, but it's time to look at them pragmatically. The US today is like the British Empire in the 1960s. Singapore was also shocked by the departure of the British then, but solved its security problems with flexible policy.
