Donald Trump seems worried by the volatile international situation he will inherit as the new president next month.

“It seems like the world is a little crazy right now,” the president-elect said Saturday when he met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris as he returned to the world stage for his second term.

The surprise fall of the al-Assad dynasty in Syria on Sunday created new conditions that will require Trump’s attention, despite his expressed desire to disengage the US from the Middle East’s dangerous war zones. The latest developments will likely be a direct test of his foreign policy goals.

“This is not our fight. Let him evolve. Don’t Get Involved”Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social, as rebels surrounded the Syrian capital, Damascus.

His comment expressed his clear opposition to US foreign policy that has been embroiled in wars in the Middle East and South Asia for nearly two decades. But as a global power, in a global economy and with US enemies seeking to reduce its influence, Trump may be forced to defend American interests at least through diplomacy.

The sudden geopolitical realignment in the Middle East could highlight Trump’s other international goals, however, such as his continued confrontation with Iran. In his social media posts over the weekend, the president-elect also highlighted how the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad was a defeat for Russia and urged Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine because of the huge casualties on the battlefield.

However, in his first televised interview with NBC, Donald Trump confirmed that he still sees global crises through a lens that measures gains and losses for the US.

The incoming president said Ukraine should “probably” prepare for less aid, while reiterating that the US will only stay in NATO if other members pay their bills and “treat us fairly”. At the same time, he underscored his “America First” commitment by sticking to his campaign pledges to prioritize the mass deportation of immigrants with criminal records and end automatic citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants born in the US.

The big challenges for Trump

However, Trump will face tough challenges both in Syria and beyond.

The seizure of power by a rebel group that Washington has designated as a terrorist organization is raising fears that Syria could once again become a haven for terrorists who threaten US security.

Trump will need to decide quickly whether to keep the hundreds of US troops in Syria to fight the resurgence of ISIS. President Joe Biden ordered a barrage of US strikes against ISIS targets in the country on Sunday.

At the same time, Assad’s fall from power is directly linked to other US foreign policy priorities, including, as Trump noted, Russia, which supported the Syrian president’s rule to save its own footprint in the Middle East.

Assad’s fall is another major blow to Iran, since Israel’s wars in Lebanon against Hezbollah and in Gaza against Hamas have decimated the Islamic Republic’s proxies, leaving the leadership in Tehran more vulnerable than it has been in years. .

The perception that Iran is weakened could lead to an even harder line than expected from the Trump administration as the regime increases its stockpile of nuclear weapons-grade uranium.

The relevant foreign policy challenges for the new president span a vast arc from Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Yemen to the Middle East, through Eurasia, rooted in the war in Ukraine.

And America’s problems with Russia, North Korea and Iran are exacerbated by the loose but expanding cooperation between the three and China.

This is a far more complex and potentially dangerous world than the one Trump was familiar with during his first term. Also, his allies in Europe are also bracing for his demands for increased defense spending, which many may struggle to meet given their dire financial situation.

Trump is using Assad’s fall to pressure Putin in Ukraine

The president-elect, seizing on the wider fallout from Assad’s fall on Sunday, immediately put pressure on Putin to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

“Russia and Iran are in a weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and the bad economy, the other because of Israel and its war success.

Likewise, Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness.”Trump wrote, a day after meeting with the Ukrainian president in Paris. “Too many lives are needlessly lost, too many families are destroyed, and if it continues, it can turn into something much bigger and much worse. I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!”

Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if elected president, but it is unclear whether Putin is ready to engage in peace talks after recent advances on the battlefield.

Or he will go ahead with a tough deal that will force Ukraine to cede territory illegally seized by Russia.

Critics of the president-elect worry he will also oppose any security guarantees for Ukraine and cancel its path to NATO and EU membership to appease Putin. Such an agreement might stop the war in the short term. But Putin’s history suggests he would likely use such an arrangement to rearm and regroup for a new offensive aimed at wiping Ukraine off the map.

The weekend’s events in Syria are a reminder of the speed of change in global politics at a time of shifting alliances, growing challenges to great powers like the United States. Even Trump’s red lines will be challenged.

“I think the president-elect is right to say that the United States for now needs to sit back and see how this plays out.”Uriel Epshtein, CEO of the Renew Democracy Initiative, told CNN International.

“I will also note that this is actually an important moment that shows that we cannot deal with conflicts in isolation, but on a global level, because the fall of Assad in Damascus affects Israel and Kiev.”