Sviker USA västvärlden ?

Idag kritiseras den amerikanska utrikes- och handelspolitiken i likartade tongångar av två tunga FT-skribenter. Den tidigare finansministern mm Lawrence Summers sammanfattar sin kritik med dessa ord:

A failure to engage effectively with global economic issues is a failure to mount a strong forward defence of American interests. The fact that we cannot do everything must not become a reason not to do anything. While elections may turn on domestic preoccupations, history’s judgment will turn on what the US does internationally. Passivity’s moment has past.

Edward Luce är om möjligt än skarpare i sin kommentar:

Without US leadership, the transatlantic alliance will not spring back to life. To his credit, Mr Obama last year helped launch the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – the biggest common project between the two continents. At a time when the US is pivoting to Asia, the deal would act as a global template for how countries should trade and do business. It would also underline the strategic unity of the west. Today, TTIP threatens to become a showcase for how little the continents can agree on. Mr Obama seems uninterested in doing what it takes to clinch a deal – getting fast track negotiating authority from Congress and selling the deal to the US public.

In Europe, initial enthusiasm has been replaced with a sullen appetite to find points of difference, whether it be data privacy, financial regulation or food standards. In Germany, the shift in sentiment can be pinned on the rolling NSA scandal.

Luce sammanfattar de olika frågor som idag skapar dåliga relationer:

 Together, they add up to transatlantic atrophy. Friendships need to be kept in good repair. The west needs more than common values to keep itself united. It desperately needs leadership. At this precarious juncture in history, when the rest is rapidly catching up with the west, it is hard to see where that will come from.

Inga frivilliga ledare tycks just nu vilja anmäla sig.