Reviving this thread from 2007 because I have just read this sobering piece by Matt Gurney on the USA’s standing in the world now, at least among the world’s defense and intelligence community: “We will never fucking trust you again.”
It’s the author’s reflections on what he experienced at the latest Halifax International Security Forum, which is “an annual gathering of senior military officers, defence and intelligence officials from across the free world, and representatives from the media, think tanks, large companies and civil society organizations whose work relates to defence and security issues or in some way seeks to promote and preserve a healthy democratic world.” Normally there would be a significant official attendance from the American government, but:
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to avoid a series of high-profile annual defence summits. That includes Halifax, and others in places like Munich and Singapore, and even inside the United States itself. The reason, according to the Pentagon’s press apparatus, was that, and I swear to God this is the actual quote, such events promote “the evil of globalism, disdain for our great country and hatred for the president of the United States.”
The rest of the piece goes on to discuss the author’s observations of what Americans did and did not (openly or “on vacation wink wink”) attend, and critically, how the rest of the democratic world now regards this country. I prefer not to excerpt more as the article deserves to be read in full, but the headline pretty much says it all. I very much fear that Gurney is correct.