An unfettered Trump makes US unreliable

Striking a balance between paranoia and preparedness is an unavoidable challenge. Reaching a reasonable, sensible position demands perception and an understanding, even a curious lay-man’s one, of how the cogs of our world spin and, more importantly, how they can be manipulated.

The great difficulties around finalising an international agreement to try to avert climate change is an example of this balancing, but there are many others most of which underline humanity’s increasing vulnerability.

London’s Gatwick Airport is used by more than 45m passengers each year, yet this vital hub was closed for 36 hours this pre-Christmas week because unidentified drones were seen flying around the facility. It is an indication of the knife-edge world we live in that authorities had no option but to react as they did, a response that unfortunately left thousands of holiday travellers stranded.

The drone flights may well be no more than a schoolboy prank, but terrorist atrocity after terrorist atrocity means any unexpected event at an airport must be considered malign until proven otherwise.

There is simply no wriggle room. That such dramatic delays followed an event as unremarkable as a drone flying around an airport will not be lost on those zealots who imagine their causes are advanced by havoc and carnage.

Those malign forces need opportunity but they also thrive in an atmosphere of uncertainty, an atmosphere where old bulwark certainties become unreliable.

The political floundering around Brexit and the dire consequences of not managing that divorce in an optimal way create an unnerving atmosphere. So too does the widening gap between the rich and the rest of the world — France’s gilet jaunes epitomise this.

Religious extremism, the negative connotations of resurgent nationalism, and unchecked autocracy dressed as populism also create a narrative all too easily exploited.

Tragically, those challenges pale into insignificance when compared to the unavoidable conclusion that US president Donald Trump’s tenuous grip on reality has slipped further. That concern is exacerbated by the announcement that defence secretary Jim Mattis, the official who stymied Trump’s off-the-cuff order that Syria’s Bashar al-Assad be assassinated, is to leave the White House.

Mattis is seen as the last of four administration heavyweights once capable of curbing the president’s short-fuse responses. Mattis, national security adviser HR McMaster, chief of staff John Kelly, and secretary of state Rex Tillerson, were seen as stabilising forces in the “crazytown” White House.

That the news of Mattis’ departure came a day after Trump announced a surprise withdrawal from Syria adds greatly to those concerns — any doubt about that is put in context by Russian president Vladimir Putin’s welcome for the retreat.

All of this may seem a party pooper’s paranoia that we can do little enough to resolve.

That response may stand today, but when we return to the real world in a week or two, it will be time, especially as the Mueller investigation closes on its objective, to ask ourselves where our best interests lie, whether we can still look to Boston and Berlin.