Writer Jonathan Taberman believes that the conviction of former US President Donald Trump is important for the foreign policy of his successor, Joe Biden.

Whereas, with this significant decline in US credibility externally, democracy promotion has become more difficult than ever, and so Washington must arrange its home first.

In his article for Foreign Policy, Tiberman noted that the Biden administration is already facing many large and confusing foreign policy challenges.

As it appears that the coup in Myanmar, Moscow's suppression of mass protests, and political unrest in Haiti;

All of them require a strong response from Washington, especially given the US administration’s much-promoted promises to place democracy and human rights at the core of its agenda.

The writer believes that the White House has so far moved cautiously with these issues, and it has to take or even promise any action on Russia or Haiti, other than making correct statements about the first and confusing statements about the second.

As for Myanmar, the White House announced, after 11 days of deliberations, new sanctions targeting the army.

Good intentions

He added that whatever the good intentions of these moves were, they were unlikely to be of much value, something Biden's foreign policy team had enough intelligence and experience to understand.

The writer pointed out that the moves against Myanmar with new sanctions targeting the army, and the freezing of one billion dollars of Myanmar government assets in the United States;

It faces 3 problems: The first is that most army commanders have already been under sanctions since 2019 as punishment for their role in the ethnic cleansing of the country's Rohingya minority.

The most important thing the United States can do is to ensure the success of the trial of former President Donald Trump, at least to the extent that political reality permits

The second is that the US trade relations with Myanmar are limited, which means that there is not much to cut, and the third problem is that the new sanctions may push Myanmar to approach China, which will be keen to take advantage of the growing hostility between Washington and Naypyidaw.

The writer added that despite the reality of all these obstacles, there is a bigger problem with applying sanctions in such a situation, which is that it rarely succeeds in pushing countries to change their behavior.

Positive things

The author believes that previous experience and social science research show that aid cuts and other forms of financial sanctions work in a very small group of cases, such as if the target country is so weak and lacks other forms of income that it cannot live without aid, but Russia and Myanmar They do not conform to this model.

And the writer added that this does not mean that the Biden administration was wrong in moving against Myanmar, as it did this week.

Such gestures - albeit a bit hollow - can do many positive things, including signaling the United States' support for key values, reminding other leaders that Washington will not ignore their violations, and reinforcing the courage of locals who are fighting for their rights by reminding them that the United States is on their side. .

But given the tangible, limited impact that sanctions can have, perhaps the best thing Washington can do to help now is to focus on restoring its terribly shattered reputation and commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The writer concluded his article that the most important thing that the United States can do is to ensure the success of Trump's trial, at least to the extent that political reality permits.