4 ms·

This is going to be the really unfortunate legacy of Trump: disastrous foreign policy and the loss of soft power. 1. Denial of Russia's meddling in US election

by cletus 8y ago

This is going to be the really unfortunate legacy of Trump: disastrous foreign policy and the loss of soft power. 1. Denial of Russia's meddling in US election because it runs counter to Trump's ego and he had a weird soft spot for autocrats. 2. The baseless termination of the Iran nuclear Accord as essentially a capitulation to Israel and Israeli interests. There was no violation of the agreement. The best the administrative could come up with was that Iran was violating the "spirit" of the agreement with actions that took place prior to it. WTF? 3. Giving North Korea a pass, a country that actually has unchecked nuclear ambitions and a deplorable human rights record. 4. Giving Saudi Arabia a pass on killing a US permanent resident in Turkey (Trump asked on camera "he's not a citizen right?"). Why? Because they're an ally. Why exactly is that? Well because of Iraq. Why was Iraq an enemy? Well because of Iran. Why was Iran an enemy? Well because we incited a revolution there to remove a democratically elected government leading to a hardline religious revolution so they didn't like is. Then we propped up a dictator and supplied him with arms, commenting a war that killed millions. Yeah ok. But hey MBS is another Putin in the making so that's fine. Honestly the only bright spot in this (and there really is one) is that China's misdeeds seem to be getting called out. Anyway the whole Iran thing just makes me angry. The best thing we could do there is work towards normalization is relations. Three internal politics were slowly becoming more moderate. Isolating them gives more power to the hardliners. But that's really the story of the disproportionate power Israel has over US foreign policy. Gone are the days when Eisenhower told them to get the hell out of Sinai.

InitialLastName 8y ago
Let's keep this straight: Saudi Arabia is an ally because, and for as long as, they happily do their oil business in USD, which does a lot to underpin the USD as a driver in the global economy as a whole.
malvosenior 8y ago
Not going to war with N. Korea, Russia and Saudi Arabia is a good thing. Trump has lessened tensions, he should get credit for that. As an American, I don't want to fight a war with these countries. I agree with you on Iran for the same reasons though.
- cletus 8y ago
  Who said anything about going to war? That's a false dichotomy. How about just: - Not giving credibility to the North Korean regime - When Russia kills dissidents overseas in a pretty public way (eg Polonium-210, nerve agents), annexes a sovereign nation (ie part of the Ukraine) and their meddling leads to giving anti-aircraft systems to rebels who use it to shoot down a passenger plane (ie MH17) then they're treated with sanctions and are ostracized to some degree from the international community. To be fair, a lot of this predated Trump. The MBS-Khashoggi affair should be met with a similar amount of condemnation. Oh and there's the whole Yemen thing too. There was a time when Saudi Arabia wielded a lot of power due to their oil output and the West's dependence on it. But those days are gone. The US is now a net oil exporter. There are sources other than OPEC for oil (eg Venezuela, Russia although each of them has their issues now obviously). More to the point, Saudi Arabia needs to sell oil to buy off their own citizens. Supporting an unpopular autocratic regime is part of why many in the Middle East hate the US. The real tragedy of the Middle East is that the US caused no end of problems and then picked the wrong side (again and again actually). There's a case to be made than Iran would've made the better ally. But our hands are tied. Because Israel, basically.
  - malvosenior 8y ago
    Like I said, I agree that we should not sanction Iran. How about not increasing the risk of war with N. Korea and Russia? It should not be our job to police other countries. We have enough of our own problems to deal with in the US.

by cletus 8y ago

InitialLastName 8y ago

Let's keep this straight: Saudi Arabia is an ally because, and for as long as, they happily do their oil business in USD, which does a lot to underpin the USD as a driver in the global economy as a whole.

malvosenior 8y ago

Not going to war with N. Korea, Russia and Saudi Arabia is a good thing. Trump has lessened tensions, he should get credit for that. As an American, I don't want to fight a war with these countries. I agree with you on Iran for the same reasons though.

cletus 8y ago
Who said anything about going to war? That's a false dichotomy. How about just: - Not giving credibility to the North Korean regime - When Russia kills dissidents overseas in a pretty public way (eg Polonium-210, nerve agents), annexes a sovereign nation (ie part of the Ukraine) and their meddling leads to giving anti-aircraft systems to rebels who use it to shoot down a passenger plane (ie MH17) then they're treated with sanctions and are ostracized to some degree from the international community. To be fair, a lot of this predated Trump. The MBS-Khashoggi affair should be met with a similar amount of condemnation. Oh and there's the whole Yemen thing too. There was a time when Saudi Arabia wielded a lot of power due to their oil output and the West's dependence on it. But those days are gone. The US is now a net oil exporter. There are sources other than OPEC for oil (eg Venezuela, Russia although each of them has their issues now obviously). More to the point, Saudi Arabia needs to sell oil to buy off their own citizens. Supporting an unpopular autocratic regime is part of why many in the Middle East hate the US. The real tragedy of the Middle East is that the US caused no end of problems and then picked the wrong side (again and again actually). There's a case to be made than Iran would've made the better ally. But our hands are tied. Because Israel, basically.
- malvosenior 8y ago
  Like I said, I agree that we should not sanction Iran. How about not increasing the risk of war with N. Korea and Russia? It should not be our job to police other countries. We have enough of our own problems to deal with in the US.