© Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesAn actor portrays President George Washington as he poses for a selfie with visitors at the Mount Vernon Estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia, on Feb. 22, 2017.
It's hard to be powerful when nobody believes a word you say.One of the most overused cliches in contemporary U.S. diplomacy is Ronald Reagan's invocation of a Russian proverb: "
Trust but Verify." Originally used in the context of the Cold War, it conveyed that Washington should be willing to reach agreements with its adversaries but only if it could be sure the other side would live up to its commitments. It was a nice way to indicate both flexibility and toughness, which is of course why
people refer to it whenever the United States is contemplating new negotiations with one of its adversaries.
Implicit in Reagan's dictum is the idea that Americans are honest, plain-speaking truth-tellers who can be counted upon to keep their word and fulfill their promises. America's opponents, by contrast, are a slippery bunch of deceptive charlatans who will exploit any loophole and seize any opportunity to hoodwink the country. Accordingly, U.S. negotiators must insist on all sorts of intrusive measures - such as the extraordinarily stringent
inspection regime incorporated into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran - to make sure they can verify what others are really up to. Reagan's proverb notwithstanding, the importance the United States attaches to verification is really a reminder that there is damn little trust involved.
Lately, however, I've been wondering whether this wariness has things backward. Is the real problem that Washington can't trust others,
or rather that other states can't trust it? Even before Deceitful Donald showed up, the United States had amassed a pretty good record of reneging on promises and commitments. At a minimum, Washington cannot claim any particular virtue or trustworthiness in its dealings with others. In the unipolar era, in fact, the United States repeatedly did things it had promised not to do.
Comment: The US is also not happy that Turkey is doing business with Russia - particularly the purchase of air defense S-400 missiles: