3944 Mike Pompeo - File photo SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo is following a scorched-earth approach to foreign policy in the dying days of the Trump government. He has sanctioned umpteen Iranian, Russian and Chinese officials in the past fortnight, read the Riot Act to Venezuela and declared null and void all restrictions on US relations with Taiwan. But of acute interest to India is the declassification of an American strategy paper on the Indo-Pacific after just two years, instead of the mandatory 35 years. There is some amount of political haymaking as Pompeo is aiming to run for President in 2024. But this muddying of the waters is also aimed at ensuring that Biden will find it difficult to reverse the changes that Pompeo has rung in.