The U.S. is Losing the Independent World

The Obama administration is confronted with an unexpected turn in global politics. Instead of approaching and embracing its policies and views, leaders of the independent world are feeling estranged from the United States. The four biggest and most strategically important democracies of the world — Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey — cannot be considered reliable U.S. allies and are not positioned to form a coalition of democracies. They are more inclined to pursue their own agendas on an international scale.

Instead of taking the U.S.’s side with regard to immense international problems, these four democracies are more inclined to ally with China and Iran, countries which, according to the Financial Times, are examples of authoritarian powers.

Americans like to believe that the world’s democracies will share the same ideas and values as the U.S. with regard to international matters. Some of Obama’s advisors hope for the formation of an international league of democracies.

However, reality contradicts the hopes and beliefs of American strategists. At the Copenhagen Climate Summit, Brazil, South Africa and India decided that their status as developing countries is more important than their status as democracies.

Adopting China’s position, the three countries explained the injustice of poor countries accepting an agreement that would impose a commitment to produce fewer CO2 emissions in comparison to the United States and European Union countries — especially because Western industrialized countries are most responsible for the colossal quantity of pollution emitted into the atmosphere.

The climate disagreement is not the sole example. None of these countries — the most important democracies in Latin America, Africa, Eurasia and Asia — belongs to a league of democracies, nor represents a reliable ally for the United States.

In the past, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has engaged in monetary agreements with China; has spoken cordially about the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez; and has congratulated the Iranian leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for his victory in the presidential elections. All these actions have caused frustration among Americans.

South Africa has frequently joined China and Russia, permanent members of the U.N.’s Security Council, in order to block resolutions with regard to human rights, opting to protect the authoritarian regimes installed in Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan and Iran.

Turkey, formerly a strategic ally of the U.S., and considered to be the only secular, Muslim and pro-Western democracy, is no longer a faithful partner of the United States. According to opinion polls, since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Turkish have developed anti-American sentiments. The Turkish government maintains diplomatic ties with America’s regional enemies — Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran — and a worrisome attitude toward Israel.

Indian leaders seem to be enjoying the thought of maintaining “special relationships” with the United States. However, even Indians frequently find their beliefs in contradiction to American viewpoints on a wide variety of international issues, including matters such as climate change, international trade and sanctions against Iran.

This situation is due to the fact that Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and India are countries for which the identification as democratic states balances the label of developing nations, which are not part of the Western world. Such governments have adjusted to globalization but still have their old suspicions of the U.S. and global capitalism.