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I was really impressed by an article [0] linked by the original, which details the philosophy of Robert Lighthizer, the current US Trade Representative. I had l

I was really impressed by an article [0] linked by the original, which details the philosophy of Robert Lighthizer, the current US Trade Representative. I had little to no knowledge of of history or motivation of the current tariffs, and had mostly viewed the US administration's approach to the WTO and multilateralism as foolhardy at best. I am more and more becoming convinced that West v China is going to be the single most impactful issue of this decade, if not century. One would never be able to glean that based on what the western media reports on, however. I don't know if Lighthizerism is the best approach, but it is at least a different approach. I'm not sure if I agree with the article's apocalyptic ending tone, though. [0] - https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/06/you-live-in-robert-lighthizers-world-now-trump-trade/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/06/you-live-in-robert-ligh...

HillaryBriss 8y ago
> One would never be able to glean that based on what the western media reports on, however. yeah. i feel this is an interesting point. the article says that within China there are mainly disincentives to argue with or reason against the leader (Xi) OTOH, Western media see mainly incentives to argue with and reason against the leader (Trump). i daresay sometimes the Western media seem like theologians who already have the right answer (Trump and all of his statements and actions are by definition ignorant/wrong/bad) and have tasked themselves with constructing a path, a narrative, which supports only that answer. and, of course, Trump himself acts a lot like a medieval theologian too, but one who belongs to a different religion than the media. also, he often commits heresy and even changes religion altogether. at unpredictable times. so we're all rather confused about what's going on now and about what the future holds. interesting times.

HillaryBriss 8y ago

> One would never be able to glean that based on what the western media reports on, however. yeah. i feel this is an interesting point. the article says that within China there are mainly disincentives to argue with or reason against the leader (Xi) OTOH, Western media see mainly incentives to argue with and reason against the leader (Trump). i daresay sometimes the Western media seem like theologians who already have the right answer (Trump and all of his statements and actions are by definition ignorant/wrong/bad) and have tasked themselves with constructing a path, a narrative, which supports only that answer. and, of course, Trump himself acts a lot like a medieval theologian too, but one who belongs to a different religion than the media. also, he often commits heresy and even changes religion altogether. at unpredictable times. so we're all rather confused about what's going on now and about what the future holds. interesting times.