America First will become America Last ?

The Axios article below, Trump’s China retreat, is interesting. In my view, the American retreat is not only about China though. USA is retreating to a regional Superpower role, which the American Maya civilization fulfilled for millennia. See my diagram on Superpowers in Space & Time.

My updated diagram has an additional column: Africa. In my view, it’s likely that the Sumerian people emigrated from Africa towards the Arab region due to:

1. the transformation of the humid Green Sahara, starting c.14,500 ya until c.6,000-5,000 years ago into
2. the Sahara desert starting c.10,000 years ago and still onwards;
3. the Sahara transformation was the result of the Great Flood (c.18000BC – c.5000 BC), and/or the
4. The post-glacial sea level rise (a.k.a. Great Flood) is related to a geological event called the Younger Dryas

Black Panther (eg, IMDb, Wiki) might be based on the ancient Sumerian role of an African superpower.

Apparently, the first will be the last.

The phrase “the first will be last, and the last first” is a well-known saying, particularly within Christian scripture, notably in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. It often appears in the context of parables and teachings about God’s kingdom and the reversal of worldly expectations. Essentially, it means that what is considered important or valuable in the world’s eyes may not be the same as what is valued by God. The phrase suggests that those who are seemingly disadvantaged or overlooked in earthly terms may be elevated in the spiritual realm, and vice versa. 

Source: Google AI-summary

You’re the First, the Last, My Everything (1974) by Barry White
artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-artist, Wiki-song

Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.

Axios title: Trump’s China retreat

By: Mike Allen
Date: 17 July 2025

“President Trump has set a radical new course in the U.S.-China rivalry, ceding ground to Beijing in pursuit of a far narrower vision of America’s role in the world, Axios’ Zachary Basu and Dave Lawler write.

• Why it matters: Six months into office, the Trump administration has hollowed out the machinery of American soft power and retreated from key arenas where the U.S. has sought to blunt China’s rise.

Some of it is strategic: an “America First” rejection of the institutions and norms Trump officials view as bloated, failed or captured by a liberal foreign policy establishment.

• But some of it, critics warn, is shortsighted — focused more on scoring domestic political points than sustaining the long-term foundations of American exceptionalism.

Voice of America — the U.S.-funded broadcaster long trusted to reach audiences inside authoritarian regimes — has gone dark in key regions after the Trump administration gutted its parent agency.

• Chinese state media is moving aggressively to fill the vacuum, expanding broadcasts in Nigeria, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries where VOA once saturated the airwaves, The Wall Street Journal reports.
• In a scathing report this week titled “The Price of Retreat,” Senate Democrats accused Trump of damaging America’s diplomatic toolkit and failing to offer “a viable alternative” to counter Chinese propaganda.

🖼️ The big picture: Across domains where the U.S. once projected influence without military force, the Trump administration is unilaterally disarming.

• Alliances: Trump’s tariff threats and bullying have undermined trust among allies critical to countering China’s influence, complicating efforts to present a unified front in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. Trump officials say the president has been consistent — and successful — in his demand for allies to do more to pay for their own defense.
• Global institutions: Trump has pulled the U.S. out of multilateral bodies he deems hostile or ineffective, such as the World Health Organization and UN Human Rights Council.
• Science: Trump’s funding cuts to research and crackdowns on elite universities have triggered fears of a U.S. “brain drain.” China is making massive, long-term investments and recruiting top talent in AI, biotech and space — and already leads the U.S. in 57 of 64 advanced technologies tracked by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
• Clean energy: The passage of Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” is poised to kneecap America’s renewable energy boom, widening China’s already dominant lead in electric vehicles, batteries and clean tech supply chains.

The other side: “The Biden administration oversaw a bloated and waste-ridden operation that doled out billions of dollars annually without oversight and resulted in duplicative or even contradictory foreign policy,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.

• “President Trump and Secretary Rubio have made America respected again while ensuring that all actions align with the America First agenda that people voted for.”

🧮 By the numbers: A new Pew Research poll of 25 countries found that China — not the U.S. — is now viewed as the world’s leading economic power.

• China’s favorability in most countries polled by Pew has ticked upward, while America’s global favorability has diminished significantly since Trump took office.

Sources:

• Axios, 17 July 2025: 1 big thing: Trump’s China retreat
• Senate Foreign Relations Committee Minority Report, July 2025: The Price of Retreat