Shafaq News/ If the prospect of Donald Trump winning re-election as US president has unsettled the Western alliance, the potential chaos is even more palpable at the thought of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming America’s next commander-in-chief following November’s contest, The Telegraph said.

“At least with Trump we have a sense of what to expect if he succeeds in his bid to secure a second term in the White House. On key security issues, such as the future of NATO and the war in Ukraine, Trump has made his views abundantly clear, even if they do not exactly conform with the objectives of other Western leaders.” The newspaper said.

“Trump’s constant threat to withdraw Washington from NATO if other member states do not pay their fair share towards its running costs – together with his claim that he could end American support for Ukraine – has resulted in many regarding a second Trump presidency as posing an existential threat to the future of the western alliance.”

The Telegraph considered Trump’s declarations on these and other key security issues as “certainly eye-catching, but many of these claims are designed to generate headlines to boost his campaign rather than being an exact representation of his views.”

“On NATO, for example, as Trump told Nigel Farage in a recent interview for GB News, the former President insists that he remains committed to the alliance – so long as other member states fulfill their spending commitments on defense. As for Ukraine, there is merit to Trump’s claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin would never have risked invading Ukraine in 2022 had he still been in office,” it explained.

“Putin’s calculation that he would meet no serious resistance from the West was made on the basis of the chaotic US-led military withdrawal from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021. This convinced the Russian leader that the West was not serious about defending its interests.”

“US President Joe Biden’s role in orchestrating this disaster has been conveniently overlooked in the glowing tributes he has received, especially from his liberal cheer-leaders, since announcing his decision to quit the presidential contest. Harris, by contrast, is an unknown quantity, certainly so far as the foreign policy outlook of the woman seeking to become America’s 47th president is concerned.”

The Telegraph said that Harris did not have any serious foreign policy experience before she was chosen to be Biden’s running mate. Nor had her time in domestic politics gained her many plaudits.”Instead, the main reason she was chosen seemed to be because having a Left-wing female activist on the ticket was seen by Democratic campaigners as a sure-fire way of widening their appeal during the 2020 campaign.”

“Certainly, judging from her less-than-impressive treatment this week of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Washington, she has a great deal to learn about the art of statesmanship if she is to be a credible contender for the White House.”

“With Biden still recovering from Covid at his Delaware beach house, neither the President nor his deputy were available to observe the established official protocol of welcoming the Israeli leader when he arrived in Washington on Monday. Harris opted instead to travel to Indiana for an event at a university, which also meant that she was not present when Netanyahu made his address before a joint session of the US Congress.” The Telegraph pointed out, mentioning that Harris’s absence from Netanyahu’s address, which has been denounced as a “boycott” by her critics, is “politically expedient at a time when the Democrats are experiencing deep divisions over the Gaza conflict, with more than 30 Democrats boycotting the event in protest at Israel’s continued military offensive in the enclave.”

“The arrival of such an inexperienced figure, assuming the mantle of leader of the free world, would certainly be welcomed by the stony-faced despots in places like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, whose principal objective is the destruction of Western influence in world affairs.” The Telegraph concluded.