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Postmaster: Send address change to News India Times, 1655 Oak Tree Toad, Suite 155 Edison, NJ 08820-2843 Annual Subscription: United States: $28 Disclaimer: Parikh Worldwide Media assumes no liability for claims/ assumptions made in advertisements and advertorials. Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and Parikh Worldwide Media does not officially endorse, and is not responsible or liable for them. Opinion News India Times February 1, 2025 - February 7, 2025) February 7, 2025 3 Trump Is Popular Abroad. What Does That Mean For Humanity? I t may come as a surprise in the capitals of liberal democra- cies in theWest - not to speak of blue urban America - that President Donald Trump is resoundingly popular with a big chunk of the world’s population. But he is. In India, China, Turkey and Brazil; in Russia, South Africa and Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and even Ukraine - countries that together add up to just under half of the world’s population - more people think Trump’s election as U.S. president will be a good thing for both their own country and peace in the world. Trump’s transactional approach - uninterested in permanent alliances, shared values and common worldviews that took root across theWest afterWorldWar II - doesn’t seem to scare them. His contempt for allies and pursuit of ad-hoc deals suit them just fine. So does his use of threats and rewards in the service of narrow national interests. The data, from a survey of nearly 30,000 people in 24 countries taken after the U.S. presidential election last November for the European Council on Foreign Rela- tions and Oxford University’s Europe in a ChangingWorld project, offers a sobering view of a world in which Europe, committed to liberal norms and democratic rules, stands largely alone in its aversion to Trump. “Rumours have circulated for some time of the liberal international order’s slow death. This poll provides more evidence of its pass- ing,” noted the report ac- companying the survey. “The monogamous marriages of the ColdWar period are now history and middle powers have embraced polyamorous relationships, favouring different partners for different issues.” One critical question revolves around why the liberal demo- cratic order that, following the fall of the BerlinWall seemed poised to transform the world, ultimately crumbled. Another is what comes next. Trump’s fans in developing nations might consider that they will be the most vulnerable in a world without rules. The current shift seems largely driven by the geopolitical standoff between the United States and China, putting less powerful countries in the uncomfortable position of having to take sides. But many countries in the “Global South” were never fully on board with theWestern liberal order, principled in appearance but often hypocritical and self-serving in prac- tice - an order that demands a rejection of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while glossing over the United States’ invasion of Iraq, for example. Liberal democracy has been losing its luster for a good decade now. Like Trump, a new generation of populist rulers in many corners of the world have won at the ballot box by representing themselves as the righteous sword of a unitary, aggrieved “popu- lace” in its existential battle against a corrupt global elite. Like Trump, they rose to power on the strength of popular an- ger. They stand against immigration, globalization and decades of rising inequality, against demographic change upending the ethnic balance of power, and against shifts in cultural norms challenging long-standing identities. They speak to voters’ dis- enfranchisement, to their desire to retreat from the globalized order into a mythical nationalist past. From India’s Narendra Modi to Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdo- gan, these leaders have wasted little time dismantling checks on their power, blowing up institutions and challenging the rule of law. Their worldview is similar to Trump’s. It is not surprising that their voting base is sympathetic to America’s self-anointed savior. Only a quarter-century ago or so, observed Timothy Garton Ash, a historian at Oxford who co-authored the European Coun- cil on Foreign Relations report, the European Union, a system knit together by stable international rules grounded in shared norms and democratic politics, was held up as a desirable model of governance for the world. That’s over. Today, the survey suggests, many countries are being drawn to a different paradigm, one closer to the Europe of the 19th century, when great powers and empires jostled in the pursuit of self-interest, making and breaking alliances. In describing the 19th-century European order, economic historian Karl Polanyi wrote that “sometimes in the name of progress and liberty, sometimes by the authority of the throne and the altar, sometimes by grace of the stock exchange and the checkbook, sometimes by corruption and bribery, sometimes by moral argument and enlightened appeal, sometimes by the broadside and the bayonet - one and the same result was attained: peace was pre- served.” But the 19th-century peace was always precarious. And I very much doubt this sort of transactional regime will prove any more stable in today’s complex, globalized world, which faces a set of looming challenges that will require col- lective action to solve. Today, would middle powers such as, say, Brazil or Indo- nesia be allowed to cut ad hoc deals withWashington or Beijing, playing them off each other? Or would the equilib- rium devolve into a version of the ColdWar, in which China and the United States sliced the world into spheres of influ- ence? It’s always a risk to take him literally, but Trump has said he wants Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal. Does China take Taiwan? Does Russia get Ukraine? Pecuniary interests can stand in the way of war. As Polanyi noted, finance is the force that ultimately prevented a grand conflagration between Europe’s great powers for 100 years. “Ev- ery war, almost, was organized by financiers; but peace also was organized by them.” Europe’s 19th-century arrangements did, of course, eventu- ally blow up, bequeathing the world a couple of world wars. It is not unthinkable today that a trade war could spark a hotter thing. Attempts by the United States and China to prevent each other from accessing technologies or raw materials could feasi- bly turn into something far deadlier. But even if Trumpian transactionalism were to maintain the peace for some time, I believe it would still ultimately fail humanity. Such an arrangement cannot deal with the global challenges bearing down on our futures. The world’s record on dealing with climate change may be far from stellar. We are even further behind in setting guidelines to steer the disruptive development of artificial intelligence. But a world of no permanent friends, where na- tions build alliances of convenience to pursue short-term interests and reject constraints in the service of a global good, will certainly fall short. We may avoid war just to get Skynet in a broiling world. Eduardo Porter is an editorial writer and columnist at The Washington Post. He formerly worked at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Opinion and Notimex. He is the author of “American Poison” and “The Price of Everything.” - TheWashington Post By Eduardo Porter PHOTO:TheWashington Post PHOTO: REUTERS/Yves Herman President Donald Trump speaks via video to the 55th annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23.