There were some arguments on the margins, but every administration embraced this prerogative to impose the American vision of a "Rules-based international order." Even Trump, who ran on an America First platform, supported American unilateralism in Syria and expanded the provision of lethal aid to Ukraine.
The United States had little fear of the International Criminal Court or the myriad other international institutions because it funded most of them, and they were effectively powerless in the face of American opposition.
Niger's unceremonial expulsion of American forces suggests little interest in maintaining close ties to the United States and reduced fear of consequences.
International tribunals would go after people like Slobodan Milsoovic and other gadflies of American power, while they would not dare go after an American leader or one of our allies.
The preferred mechanisms of American foreign policy in much of the world have consisted of deniable influence operations, support for preferred political parties, and, through means known and unknown, the fomentation of violent political "Color revolutions" to install friendly "Democratic" regimes, such as those that took place in Ukraine, Georgia, and elsewhere.
These three disparate developments-the forced expulsion of the American military from Niger, the ICC indictment of Netanyahu, and Georgia's flouting of U.S. pressure-are all harbingers of a true multipolar world.
On the realism side of the ledger, American strategy must navigate a multipolar world by setting priorities, abandoning vanity projects, reducing the scope of its ambitions, and tailoring the force structure to achieve objectives commensurate with our existing military and industrial capability, along with the likelihood of sustained public support.
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