MWANGI: Worried about Trump? Hes only advancing Americas interests

When Donald Trump gave his inauguration speech upon taking the oath of office to become the 45th president of the United States, some of his sentiments created gloom in many Third World countries, including in East Africa.

Naturally, the foreign policy direction taken by the world’s sole superpower is a matter of interest to people throughout the world. In poor countries, especially, the policies of the United States are critically important as they determine a wide array of issues. These include foreign exchange earnings, defence assistance, and budgetary support.

Moreover, the United States and its Western allies have been known to use brute force to advance their interests, creating any sort of excuse to intervene in any country that they target for regime change. Their methods have included assassinations as well as military adventure. During the much-praised reign of President Barack Obama, the United States shamelessly attacked Libya and destroyed it.

So, when newly-sworn President Trump declared that the United States will henceforth focus its energies on serving American interests, it wasn’t anything new. The tone and bluntness with which this was said led many to think that America would cut off aid and various forms of co-operation with nations across the world, hence the concern by African leaders and others elsewhere.

Yet, this could turn out to be a positive move. The less America engages itself with the rest of the world and restricts itself to serving the American people, the better for the whole world. Whether in Vietnam, Syria or Libya, military intervention by the US has always led to tremendous suffering as whole nations are destroyed.

And where real need exists – as in the Rwandan situation in 1994 – the United States and its allies will hardly make an appearance. Their actions, then, are always dictated by realpolitik, seeking to advance the interests of American corporations all over the world.

Indeed, even the business of aid is wholly deceptive. While East Africa and other poor regions of the world always appear to greedily grab every opportunity to accept aid, this in the long term becomes a form of slavery from which it is extremely difficult to extricate ourselves.

Moreover, a lot of the loans advanced to our countries are grossly mismanaged, and outright theft is quite common. Yet, donor nations will demand payment of these loans at agreed interest rates. It would be much better, then, to do without this kind of financing that only advances the interests of a few leaders and Western capitalists.

When Trump says that America will extricate itself from the rest of the world, therefore, there can hardly be any better news for today’s world. Finally, we can have a truly homegrown agenda that will advance the interests of local peoples everywhere without Americans poking their nose into the region. Leaders can be elected and removed from office without the US trying to prop up unpopular dictators. And, of course, we can focus on what is good for ourselves without having to listen to the patronizing views of the World Bank, the IMF and similar-minded institutions.

If Trump does fulfil his promise to have less American involvement in the affairs of nations around the world – which it is doubtful that he will follow through with his promise – there will be less incentive for terrorist activities. These jihadist attacks around the world target not only Americans but also countries perceived to be friendly to the United States and Israel. More often than not, they are indiscriminate attacks against anybody who happens to be at the scene of the attack.

Rather than wait with trepidation to see what the Trump administration may have in store for East Africa and the world at large, the region should actively promote its own interests. Our leaders should not bend over backwards to accommodate the interests of greedy Western corporations at the expense of local peoples. Neither should we accept lopsided contracts with foreign corporations that are designed to bleed our countries of their resources for a song.