Political leaders and media proponents have been flooding social media to show support for Zelensky as the new savior of the EU and many have suggested that Europe can easily fill the void that the US leaves behind.  This is dangerous delusion.

For example, the US represents around 70% of the entire annual combined defense spending of NATO countries.  No other nation comes close.

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The demise of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been swift and total. But while liberals have devolved into literal tears over the dissolution of the once-obscure foreign aid agency, they should not mourn its passing if they are truly concerned about America’s “standing” in the world.

USAID, for all practical purposes, was running its own foreign policy. Through strategic grants, it bred dependency that allowed it to in effect take over large segments of the charity/NGO (non-governmental organization) sector around the world. To say it bestrode the world stage like a giant would not be unfair. The Pentagon’s procurement office could learn something from the manner in which USAID utilized everything from newspapers to theaters and even vaccination campaigns to advance its agenda.

Whether that agenda was in the best interests of the United States is, to say the least, doubtful.

The original mission of USAID, which President Kennedy established in 1961, was to advance American influence by advancing American values around the world. During the Cold War, when there was something of a common American culture, socially “progressive” within a civically Judeo-Christian, pro-free market mindset, there was little contradiction between advancing America’s perceived values and boosting American influence.

In a conflict against an atheistic, socialist Soviet Union, the idea that humans should be free to believe what they wished was at once both conservative and “progressive.” When the status quo across much of the world was feudalism or central planning, the idea that anyone, regardless of religion, race, or gender should be able to own property or start a business was both “progressive” and capitalist.

What changed after the 1990s was the values that USAID sought to advance.

Equality is universal. Everyone should be treated the same regardless of background. Equity and DEI, on the other hand, are divisive. These concepts define people based on immutable characteristics like race and sex. By embracing DEI, USAID ceased advancing the shared interests of the United States and the people of the world, and instead chose specific individuals and groups to favor, most notably those dedicated to LGBT or feminist causes and religious or ethnic minorities.

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