Good riddance, Mike Pompeo

At long last, Mike Pompeo's tenure as US secretary of state is coming to a close. He leaves behind a legacy tainted by ego, lies and little desire to improve the state of the world.

In his final hours at the state department, Pompeo is still racing against time to incite conflict wherever he can.

In a matter of days, he rushed to lift restrictions on Washington's official contacts with Taiwan; hit Cuba, Iran, and Yemen's Houthi group with alleged terror accusations; and once again hyped up a ludicrous theory about the origins of the coronavirus.

Over the years, Pompeo was reckless in abusing the power of his office and the might of the United States for personal political ambitions, and he did so with barefaced lies.

Despite being America's top diplomat, he failed to show any zeal in helping solve the world's real problems. On the contrary, he, along with other political arsonists in Washington, staged one political farce after another on the world stage, and stoked divisions and confrontation almost everywhere he went.

He publically talked about a possible military intervention into Venezuela.

He brazenly pushed for a snapback of sanctions against Tehran lifted under the Iran nuclear deal the United States had already withdrawn from.

Based on groundless security accusations, he relentlessly pressured Britain, Spain and other European countries not to work with Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei on 5G networks.

The list of manipulations and coercion is endless.

Under his watch, America's diplomatic conduct has turned unprecedentedly chaotic and destructive, sanctimonious and condescending.

Apart from all the havoc he has wreaked across the world over the years, Pompeo did accomplish something: He laid bare before the world the true face of an arrogant, hypocritical and overbearing Washington.

Pompeo and his likes are leaving "the city upon a hill" deeply mired in the coronavirus pandemic, with more known cases and deaths than any other country by far.

Francis Fukuyama, author of the "end of history" thesis, has called the United States a "failed state." European leaders were alarmed at the "shocking" and "disgraceful" scenes in their troubled transatlantic ally following the Capitol violence earlier this month.

Last week, the state department cancelled Pompeo's final trip to Europe at the last hour. The state department explained that the decision was made because it was busy with transition work. It turns out that European officials declined to meet America's top outgoing diplomat.

Because of Pompeo and his likes, America's global image is now in tatters, with Pompeo's final acts of madness another footnote to its fiasco.

Good riddance, Mike Pompeo. With his departure, the world is better off.