Rump, befuddled

ANALYSIS: US RELIABILITY QUESTIONED OVERSEAS

An unmistakable sense of unease has been growing in capitals around the world as the U.S. government from afar looks increasingly befuddled - shirking from a military confrontation in Syria, stymied at home by a gridlocked Congress and in danger of defaulting on sovereign debt, which could plunge the world's financial system into chaos.…

"The paralysis of the American government, where a rump in Congress is holding the whole place to ransom, doesn't really jibe with the notion of the United States as a global leader," said Michael McKinley, an expert on global relations at the Australian National University.