At a 2006 Gdansk seminar to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s Solidarity Movement, former Carter administration national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski spoke about the moral imperative of liberty. He saw the fall of the Iron Curtain in the willingness of both Democrats and Republicans to oppose communism and stand up for liberty. At dinner, however, several Iranian dissidents approached Brzezinski and asked why he had supported freedom in Poland but not in Iran, on which he had become a vocal proponent of appeasement. Brzezinski’s response? He got up and walked away.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is increasingly taking a page from Brzezinski. Rubio is the most clear-eyed member of the Trump administration in recognizing the value of liberty, though he has repressed his own instincts on fights like Ukraine to keep his job. Critics can criticize, but Rubio serves at his boss’s pleasure and must follow Trump’s orders.
Trump’s decapitation of dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela was strategic brilliance, but the untold story was the diplomatic preparations that occurred thousands of miles away in Qatar. Rubio’s envoys had met there with Vice President Delcy Rodriguez’s brother to plan the political side of the operation. Rubio is likewise right to end the misery of decades of Communist rule in Cuba.
In Africa, however, Rubio and his team do the equivalent of Brzezinski’s walk away from the table.
First, the U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia walked back Trump’s deliberate words on Somaliland being a different country to Somalia. Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Djiboutian counterpart issued a communique countering Trump’s comments, and declaring Djibouti and China’s support for Somalia to retake Somaliland. From China’s perspective, this makes sense: Djibouti is heavily indebted to China and home to China’s only major overseas naval base. Beijing is squeezing the U.S. military out of Djibouti. Because Somaliland is the only local alternative, undermining Trump would essentially cede the entire eastern Indian Ocean to China. Somalia itself is also firmly in Beijing’s pocket.
Rubio has been silent as China has restricted Somaliland airspace to prevent Americans, Taiwanese, and Israelis from entering Somaliland. His State Department has undercut efforts to open a consulate or office in Hargeisa, let alone to move American forces to Berbera where they can counter the Houthis. And do so without Chinese and Djiboutian interference over aircraft takeoffs and landings. While there has not been a terrorist attack targeting foreigners in Somaliland since 2008, a standard that makes Somaliland safer than 115 other countries, Rubio’s State Department drags its feet on issuing a separate travel advisory.
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Rubio understands that China poses the greatest long-term threat to the United States. Both he and the broader Trump administration have worked diligently to unravel some of China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere. Rubio may not want to focus on Africa, but he should direct diplomats and his broader bureaucracy to follow a simple procedure in determining policy: Should a suggested policy benefit Beijing’s interests more than Washington’s?
Much of the State Department understands Washington must come first. Via its actions, the Africa Bureau reflects strategic confusion which undercuts both America’s position in the world and Rubio’s own legacy.
Michael Rubin is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum, a distinguished fellow at India’s Usanas Foundation and a contributor to Beltway Confidential.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
