By Dr. Sawraj Singh
There is a saying in the Punjabi language “Sara janda dekhie adha daea wand”. It means that if you feel that you are going to lose everything then share the half so that you can save the other half. Trump seems to have just done that.
He has made the unipolar world a tripolar world. Trump seems to feel that Obama and Hillary would have lost the whole thing. They wanted to maintain American hegemony all over the world, even when America had lost the economic and the military strength to do that. Over the last two decades America has almost completely lost its manufacturing base mostly to China. China has become the manufacturing hub of the world.
Russia always had the most advanced weaponry and military technology. However, because of the economic weakness, the Soviet Union collapsed. When Putin first came into power, he made a strategic alliance with China. China gave tremendous economic help to Russia so that it could regain its status as the leading military power. Once Russia and China joined their forces America could not match their strength. In Europe, America and European countries together were not a match for the Russian military strength. Similarly, in Asia, America’s quadrilateral alliance with India, Japan and Australia could not match China’s strength. Therefore, Trump decided to leave the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) and concede Asia-Pacific area to China. He has called NATO “Obsolete”. Trump is giving a clear signal to the European countries that now Russia is the leading European power. A British military expert has recently said that Russia can finish UK in one afternoon. Trump has clearly conceded Europe as Russia’s area of influence. Trump has basically retreated America to the Pre Second World War area of influence. This area basically includes the North and the South American continents. He wants to concentrate on America, Canada and Mexico (the NAFTA countries). Trump seems to believe that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, America spread itself too thin and this may be the main reason that America lost ground to China, Russia and the western European countries. America, Canada and Mexico combined have resources (both natural and industrial) which can match any other region in the world. Instead of scattering America’s attention all over, he wants to concentrate in this area.(Region). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, I wrote my book “Crisis in Civilization a Sikh Perspective” which was published in America; I wrote that the collapse of the Soviet Union is not something for America to celebrate. One day, America will realize that the collapse of the Soviet Union is the biggest blunder it has made. America and the Soviet Union together were able to maintain control over the whole world, each controlling its own half. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, America will be unable to control over the whole world. Moreover, the only thing which is keeping the western European countries under the American control is the fear of the Soviet Union. Once this fear is gone then these countries will act more as rivals to America than its junior partners. I feel that Trump has realized what I was trying to say in my book. America should not spread itself too thin. I had also warned that with the loss of manufacturing jobs, America would eventually lose its economic and political power also. I am glad that Trump is also realizing that. The main thing America needs is to get those manufacturing jobs back to America.
To those who are continuing their protest against Trump, I have one thing to say that they probably would not be around if Hillary would have won the election. She was more than likely to start a third World War which was very likely to become nuclear. Let us at least give credit to Trump for saving us from such a destructive war.
Trump has made the unipolar world led by America a tripolar world led jointly by America, Russia and China. However, this is not the final product. This is only a transitional phase. Eventually, it will be replaced by a multipolar world. There are other centers of power which are emerging such as India, the Western European countries, ASEAN countries and Iran. I feel that the concept of a multipolar world is more compatible with nature as it accommodates the cultural, geographic and economic diversity. I also feel that the pro nature and pro people model of world order was first conceived by Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak was one of the greatest advocates of diversity and pluralism. Eventually, the whole world is going to accept these concepts.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
