TRUMP’S RATIONALE FOR A NEW WORLD ORDER

Behind Donald Trump’s seemingly inexplicable, all over the map, foreign policy actions creating a new world order and thus reversing the seventy year role of America as the leader of the “free world”, are a number of bizarre rationales. Overriding everything Trump does foreign or local has to be the opportunity to turn the occasion into a media food fest with him the center of attraction - no quiet diplomacy for him. Then most of the foreign policy motivations are extensions of his domestic agenda where he feeds on paranoia and the alleged victimization of America. Another objective for the benefit of his home base is to prove that he is the last white hope for the USA and of course the world.

 First and foremost amongst the foreign incentives is a compulsion to support the country that the former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney labelled as the greatest threat to world peace, Russia. Then high up on the Commander In Chief’s to do list is reverse anything Obama. Also there is a compulsion for confirmation of his strong guy image which he daily provides “evidence” of by affording high praise for his newest best friends, fellow strong leaders such as, Putin, King Suad, President Erdogan of Turkey and of course Kim Jung Un. The reverse side of that coin is what weaklings the leaders of his former democratic allies are, such as Trudeau, Merkel and Macron. That is why this week the democratic allies were out and Kim Jung Un and Putin are in. War against Canada and peace with North Korea.

In the short space of five hundred days Trump has proceeded to change the accepted order both within America and in the world. The most devastating outcome of Trump’s foreign policy is that it will take decades to restore confidence in America’s word. Trump has created a reality that America’s word is only guaranteed till the next Presidential election.

 THE  G - 7 MEETING 

It was all on display this last weekend at the G 7 conference where the seven richest nations, all ostensibly united against totalitarianism, met. This group is the de facto financial counterpart of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO).  For seventy years America had provided the lead both in free trade and as a defender and a promotor of human rights and democracy. It is common cause that the American headed (NATO) had held the line in the cold war against the totalitarian USSR. 

At the high powered get together Trump trashed his allies and put in a big plug for Putin’s Soviet Union who he wanted reinstated at this prestigious assembly. Putin had been expelled from that very same forum for his Crimean land grab which action was the very antithesis of what America and its allies ostensibly stood for. Lest there should be any doubt as to Trump’s sentiments he refused to sign the routine communique of the seven world leaders, an unheard of and unprecedented snub. This resulted in public condemnation by America’s closets allies Germany, France and Canada. The latter came in for the fiercest tweet attack. Trade with Canada is nearly as much as with China but most significantly it is the largest importer of American goods. Trump’s trade war with Canada will wreck the latter’s economy.

The meeting fulfilled two tenets of the Trump foreign policy agenda - commitment to, dare Jay H. Ell say, mother Russia, and the mantra that the world’s greatest super power has been taken to the cleaners by the likes of Canada and Mexico as well as of course Europe, Japan and China. Both these assumptions are the hairiest for Trump as the consensus is that he does not have the vaguest idea of the complexities of trade agreements where you win some and lose some. Also he does not realize that at the end of the day all his tariffs will increase the cost of living.

Also the remaining G 6 participants served notice that they can give as much as they get. They apparently are not used to dealing in Manhattan real estate. The only winners of that indaba were Russia and China. 

IRAN, NORTH KOREA AND CUBA

Trump walked out of Obama’s Iran nuclear deal because it only dealt with nuclear weapons and in the process pushed up the price of oil. The rationalization for this rogue act was that it failed to deal with all the other of Iran’s outrageous behaviors. These included it’s support of terrorism, ballistic missiles and human rights violations. The fact that there had been the most rigorous inspections to see that Iran fulfilled its obligations was apparently irrelevant cause who could believe that the Iranian thugs weren’t hiding a centrifuge somewhere. 

Nevertheless he and he alone can effect a deal with North Korea where Kim Jung Un had already outmaneuvered him up the ying yang and where no one has a clue as to where all his nuclear plants are. No other American President would concede the North Korean despot the status of world leader and sit down with him till he had made concessions. The only concession Kim has made was to tell The Donald what he already knew, that he was the greatest. How he can differentiate between the findings of nuclear inspectors in Iran and North Korea only he knows. This especially when nobody knows where all North Korea’s nuclear facilities are. How, if it ever comes to it, how is Trump going to explain why he accepts the nuclear inspections when he rejected that the extensive Iranian scrutiny as fake. Why shouldn’t whatever deal Trump made be nullified by the next US President because he didn’t address, for example, the ballistic missiles or human rights?

Then for no apparent reason other than Obama did it, Trump reversed the rapprochement with Cuba. The political implications of this childish act are not readily apparent although this is one of the few areas that he and Florida’s Republican Senator Marc Rubio are ad idem.

So in North Korea Trump is illustrating that he not only is master of the Art of the Deal he also walks on water. In Iran Trump has “proved” that Obama sold out and in Cuba he has shown that he is not a Commie lover. (So sucks to you Vladmir!).

TOTALITARIAN LEADERS - TRUMP’S NEWEST BEST FRIENDS

By their very nature totalitarian leaders do not easily form alliances. Their tendencies are to dominate. The only reason to form coalitions would be to have company in their nefarious doings and to divide the spoils. Hitler had three principle allies besides countries that he conquered and then went along with him. They were Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union. (The latter was double crossed in 1940 when Hitler invaded Russia). The Axis nations as they were known gave each other support in their dictatorial way of running their countries. Then Germany could have central Europe, Italy the Mediterranean and Japan South East Asia. 

Trump’s partner in chief is Putin, who, inter alia, murders dissidents in foreign countries. He gravitates towards other totalitarian leaders - Erdogan, (killed a 161 opponents when there was an alleged coup),  Xi Jinping, (appointed life long President of China and who was complicit in the Tiananmen Square slaughter), Ibn Suad of Saudi Arabia, (absolute Monarch ruling by Sharia law), and even Kim Jung Un, (public execution of uncle and poisoning half brother with millions starving dissidents in Gulags). He openly admires all of them. 

Putin has a major political objective in separating America from its European allies and wants to make Russia a major power again. His objective is to slowly but surely conquer territories of the former Soviet Union.This is why he actively intervened in the American Presidential election in Trump’s favor. Suad wants to control the Muslim world and shares a hatred of Iran with Trump. The POTUS has no grand imperial schemes, other than Trump Inc. He really just wants to protect his and his families fortunes, placate Russia for reasons not fully known, legitimize other totalitarians thereby legitimizing himself. 

Where the American Commander in Chief differs from his newest best friends is that his position as a dictator has not yet been consolidated so he has to use the international arena to grand stand to play to his base. The message is that America’s fearless leader is up there with the “strong” leaders not the “weak” one like Trudeau. 

TRADE WARS ARE THE WARS THAT DONALD CAN WIN

Another facet of the new administration’s foreign policy is waging trade wars. As America, is the world’s largest importer of goods, buying more from other countries than it sells to them, these are wars America must win. The whole world combined cannot shove on more tariffs than America is able to. The chief items of the foreign policy doctrine fulfilled here include, “The days of taking America for suckers are over” and “I am de man”. It is obvious that no cost benefit analysis has been done on this policy which has not been thought through longer than it takes to compose a Trump tweet. In addition it is totally against the doctrine of free trade that the Republican Party hold so dear. It is also could push the country into a recession, not to mention the world. 

Trade deals are extremely complex and countries, including America, utilize all sorts of stratagems to protect their workers. There are tariffs, quotas and subsidies to mention just a few of the tactics. Mostly these maneuvers  take place in the area of agriculture. Just to take one example Canada cushions its dairy providers with a 270 percent tariff. Trump lambasted Trudeau over the fact. What he failed to mention is that he protects tobacco production here with a close on 400 percent tariff.

FIRE AND FURY

The POTUS frequently reminds “enemies” that America has the world’s greatest nuclear arsenal. Most recently this came up in his on again, off again and on again bromance with “rocket man”. This part of America he does not need to make great again apparently. Ironically he attacked his predecessors as warmongers. He is strangely quiet about the goings on in Syria, especially as his buddy Putin is backing that monster Assad. However, he has threatened Iran with “grave consequences” should they start up their nuclear program now that he has pulled out of the agreement that stopped it. 

TRUMP MESSING UP THE WORLD ORDER TO SOLIDIFY HIS POSITION

While Xenophobia, immigration and the like are the home grown favorites to play to his base he is not as secure in his choices on the international scene. However, other than Russia whom he appears to owe real big, Trump is using his erratic foreign policy to sock it to Barak and show the electorate that the electoral college picked the right guy. 

NORTH KOREA

As for North Korea the most charitable assessment is to wait and see what happens. On it’s face the great big blowhard seems to have given the house away. All trust and very little verification. Jay H. Ell can almost hear the GOP right wing whispering, “Come back Barack all is forgiven”. Japan and South Korea, to put it mildly, are not so happy about the unilateral troop withdrawal. 

At the end of the day if it all goes wrong Trump cannot rely on his former allies to bail him out. The missiles are not aimed at Europe they are aimed at America. All he will have left is China who he is also treated like you know what. No wonder he went bankrupt four times.