Multilateralism – Here and there

Trump’s romantic nationalism and the direction of US foreign policy

30 September 2025 Mike Scrafton Global

A sense of America’s leadership in the Indo Pacific region or reliance on alliances was totally absent from Trump’s UNGA address. Allies can expect the forthcoming US National Security Strategy to be far from the traditional product.

The UN at 75: a real declaration of intent, or multilateral virtue signalling?

14 September 2020 Mike Scrafton By Mike Scrafton, Climate crisis, Foreign policy, trade and diplomacy, International relations

An atmosphere of unreality is building in advance of the virtual meeting of world leaders on 21 September 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (UN). Nothing demonstrates this more than the proposed draft declaration. Rather than reaffirming the UN’s centrality, the draft declaration’s faux earnestness jars amid the current international reality. Additionally, it ignores the biggest challenge to multilateralism.