Last December, US President Donald Trump ordered a full and rapid withdrawal of US troops from Syria, declaring victory over ISIS in the war-ravaged country. Since then, the move has met widespread condemnation, including criticism from within Mr Trump’s own government. On Friday, an official familiar with the latest assessment reported that the Pentagon believes that ISIS could re-emerge and take back territory in Syria within months if the US does not maintain military pressure on the terror group.
Despite the criticism, the American firebrand does not seem to have changed his mind and the US is currently in the process of withdrawing land forces from Syria, who should be out by mid-Spring.
The US involvement or “disinvolvement” in the Middle East is one of the many examples included in 2017 documentary “Is American in Retreat?”, which claims that the US has entered a new era of “isolationism”.
Noting that the change of approach started under President Barack Obama, Pulitzer Price journalist Bret Stephens said: “Let me point to three key areas.
“One, of course, is the Middle East.
“Syria became the metastasising cancer of the Middle East.
“A refugee crisis was born out of the chaos in Syria.
“The collapse of American credibility with a broken red line also comes out of Syria
“Next take the South China Sea, not only is China trying to bully weaker powers, like the Philippines and Vietnam, but it is also trying to bully an equal power like Japan.
“And finally take Ukraine. For the first time in history, the idea of Russia-NATO confrontation is realistic.
“What is the common denominator? The common denominator is that America is in retreat.
“It is a perception by the bullies of the world, whether they are in Beijing or Moscow or in Damascus, that American power, American assurances, American promises aren’t serious and that America isn’t interested or isn’t seriously interested in defending its interests, its values or its friends.”
Historian Walter Russell Mead of the Hudson Institute noted that the reason behind this isolation is because the US, in its nature, is not “Sparta”.
He explained: “There is a sense in which American foreign policy is at its best when [the country] really faces a crisis, but at the same time when things don’t seem to be that urgent we want to get back to watching TV.
“You know, we are not Sparta.
“America is not a society organised for war, conquest and foreign policy.
“The core of our society is Americans enjoying the freedom to express themselves, and do what’s in them to do.
“Usually then what happens is, somebody comes along and whacks us on the head with a two-by-four and reminds us that there’s a world out there, and we need to think about it.”