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Although the Trump administration has voiced a desire to extract themselves from the existing military engagements in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, they have no
by archgoon 7y ago
Although the Trump administration has voiced a desire to extract themselves from the existing military engagements in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, they have not yet done so. (As a side note, the previous administration also expressed a similar desire). Thus it is perhaps premature to claim that the current administration has 'ended' the policy.
However, this misses the point that the goal of the proposed institute is to:
> ... promote an approach to the world based on diplomacy and restraint rather than threats, sanctions, and bombing.
Unfortunately, the current negotiation tactics being pursued against, say, Iran, do not fall under this new style of diplomacy. I'm sure other examples may come to mind.
- chrisco255 7y agoIt's weird to take tools off the table, like sanctions. It would reduce diplomacy to begging "pretty please".
- archgoon 7y agoI'll be interested in seeing what the proposed alternative will be.
- effie 7y ago"Pretty please" is actually a good default approach for a state X wanting something from another state Y; it shows respect and builds mutual trust. There is no guarantee that request will be fulfilled, but it can start a dialog "we want something in return" that can result in mutual accommodation. When the state X throws out past agreements, starts making higher demands, it is playing very risky game.
- m0zg 7y agoI'm very thankful that you're not the one running the country. "Pretty please" gets you jack shit when you're dealing with hardcore gangsters like Xi Jinping, Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel, or Vladimir Putin.
- effie 7y agoThe original context is Iran. So you want more from somebody than agreed and if you won't get it you start to use sanctions? Risky game, you can sometimes win, but if you go for it too far for too long, this will blow in your face.
- dang 7y agoWe've asked you repeatedly to stop posting flamebait to HN. Especially political flamebait. If you keep doing it we will ban you. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- m0zg 7y agoThat's a generous interpretation. A more realistic one is that Soros's and Koch brothers Chinese holdings are beginning to suffer a little.