While many urgent tasks await the US president-elect, by no means the least of them is what will be a long, uphill struggle to restore America’s reputation in the world and, in particular, to recover a position of legitimacy in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
As revealed by poll after depressing poll, the US (and the west in general) no longer have any moral standing among Arabs and Muslims – even, tragically, the instinctively pro-western among them. This is almost certainly the last chance for a very long time for the US to reclaim its role as the lead custodian of an international order founded on democracy and the rule of law.
