Displaying posts categorized under

FOREIGN POLICY

BOOKS, FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

A Radical Shift The nightmare Obama brought to U.S. foreign policy. Thu Oct 15, 2020 Walid Phares

By on October 15th, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/10/radical-shift-frontpagemagcom/

Editors’ note: Walid Phares has a new book out on the difference in foreign policy between Obama and Trump titled: The Choice: Trump vs. Obama-Biden in US Foreign Policy. Below is an exclusive excerpt – Chapter 3 – which illustrates the nightmare that Obama brought to U.S. foreign policy.

Soon after landing in the White House, President Obama initiated two major moves, which by the end of May or early June 2009 indicated where his administration was going in terms of national security and foreign policy. It was obvious to me at the time that the country was veering away from the post-9/11 posture and the so-called War on Terror and heading in the opposite direction of demobilization of America on the one hand and the activation of an apologist policy on the other in order to engage with future partners who were actually at the core of terrorism and extremism.

Most Americans in the early years of the Obama administration focused on the domestic agenda and therefore did not see or understand the much wider change of direction that the new team at the White House was implementing: the eventual dismantling of the War on Terror and with it the war of ideas. In other words, the Obama doctrine was telling Americans that our conflict with the radicals overseas was in error because the conflict was caused by us—and therefore we need not only to cease our efforts of resistance against the jihadists, Iran, and the other radicals but jump on a train going in the other direction, one that would lead us to engaging the foes and finding agreement with each of them in order to transform American policy overseas.

The first major benchmark that indicated a massive Obama-Biden change in foreign policy with implications on national security was Obama’s trip to Egypt in spring 2009 and his address at Cairo University. The main idea of President Obama on the political philosophy level was to inform the American public that the United States has been seen as an aggressor against Arabs and Muslims since 9/11—maybe even decades before that. This perception prevailed on U.S. campuses for decades among leftist academics and intellectuals. It was explained as the American branch of Western colonialism. But the urgency behind this U-turn made by the administration in foreign policy perception was in fact linked to how the United States reacted to the 9/11 attacks.

Continue reading →
ELECTIONS, FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Thanks to Trump, China’s Huawei Is Dying by Gordon G. Chang

By on October 10th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16621/trump-china-huawei

• Vice President Biden may say he will be tougher on China than Trump, but his supporters have signaled that he will not. Max Baucus, who served as ambassador to China in the Obama years, predicted that, with a Biden win, there would be a “reset” in U.S.-China relations.
• So, expect chip companies to lobby a President Biden to restart the flow of chips to Huawei Technologies. The sound of a pen gliding over the signature line on a waiver is music to the ears of one Shenzhen-based threat to the United States—as well as its masters in Beijing.

By cutting off the supply of semiconductors, the Trump administration is severely undermining the viability of China’s Huawei Technologies, currently the world’s leading manufacturer of both telecom networking gear and smartphones.
And as goes Huawei, so goes China’s ambitions of dominating global communications.
Washington has accused Huawei of persistent theft of U.S. intellectual property. In addition, the current administration believes the company poses a national security threat because Beijing uses its equipment to surreptitiously take data flowing through its servers and other networking gear.

Continue reading →
FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Iran: Can the U.S. Make Peace with the Mullahs? by Peter Huessy

By on October 3rd, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16582/iran-can-the-us-make-peace-with-the-mullahs

With regard to the JCPOA itself, Iran’s serious and continuing violations of the nuclear enrichment terms of the existing agreement reflect the true intentions of the mullahs, and clearly indicate that a new nuclear deal could not be implemented with any confidence: it would also be violated by Iran. Secretary Pompeo, in a statement posted on the Department of State’s website, noted that Iran has shown no willingness to live in peace.

Like other criminal cartels, Iran has operational arms, including the IRGC, Hezbollah and Hamas, to do its dirty work. In 2014-15, Iran’s terror proxy, Hezbollah, financed its terrorism through smuggling contraband cigarettes in the United States, and working with Venezuelan drug cartels to smuggle drugs and traffic in women and children. Revealingly, a nearly-completed law enforcement effort to take down Hezbollah’s cigarette smuggling ring was shut down by the Obama administration just before the 2015 JCPOA was concluded.

If anyone thinks that diplomacy can resolve such threats, one need not do any more than remember the diplomatic success Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had in preventing Nazi Germany from attacking Poland.

On Saturday, September 19, after months of futile diplomatic efforts to extend the UN ban on Iran’s purchase of advanced weapons, the Trump administration implemented “snap back” sanctions as set forth in the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). That action was taken, said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, because “The Iranians are largely ignoring the most important components of the [nuclear deal] with respect to nuclear enrichment.”

Continue reading →
ELECTIONS, FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Trump Broadside Against Communist China Reveals Biden’s Achilles’ Heel Ben Weingarten ,

By on September 26th, 2020

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-broadside-against-communist-china-reveals-bidens-achilles-heel-opinion-1534160

President Donald Trump used the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to deliver a powerful broadside against the great adversary of our time, communist China.

His speech served as a timely reminder of one of the critical differences between himself and the cellar-dwelling Democrat establishment doyen-turned-Trojan Horse of the Left opposing him, former Vice President Joe Biden.

The difference is this: President Trump, long a critic of the globalist establishment’s China policy of integration and accommodation, has matched his word with deed as commander-in-chief, comprehensively confronting the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Former Vice President Biden, long a cheerleader of, and central player in, the very globalist establishment project that propelled the PRC to great power status, can only today—after 47 years of contrary behavior and while “running” for president—muster half-hearted criticism of China, unbacked by any discernible plan to counter it.

During his UNGA speech, President Trump excoriated the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for having “unleashed this plague [the coronavirus] on the world,” with an assist from the CCP-captured World Health Organization. He demanded that the UN hold China accountable for its actions.

This was the kind of direct attack on the PRC at a preeminent international forum that no predecessor in the post-Richard Nixon era, save perhaps President Ronald Reagan, would have dared make.

Continue reading →
FOREIGN POLICY, MEDIA Comments turned off

WaPo beclowns itself criticizing Trump’s Middle East peace deal By Michael Berenhaus

By on September 25th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/09/wapo_beclowns_itself_criticizing_trumps_middle_east_peace_deal.html

In “A lopsided Middle East strategy” (9/19/20), The Washington Post editorial board is critical of the current administration for supporting our allies over those that want to do us harm.  If the Post calls that lopsided, I’ll take it!

Further, The Post says a “negative” of the recent “Abraham Accords” is the “reinforcement of harsh authoritarian rulers” in the region.  Those “authoritarian rulers,” our allies, have been “authoritarian” for decades.  Nary a word of objection about their dictatorship style in the past until Israel makes a deal with them, brokered by the president.

The Post postulates that “Mr. Biden would surely also resume US pressure on Israel to pursue a settlement with the Palestinians.”  But Mr. Biden has been around long enough to know that no amount of pressure on Israel has pushed the Palestinians to say yes to a multitude of generous peace offers.

The Washington Post missed the mark on pretty much every sentence in its comprehensive editorial, which is surprising, since even their columnists supported this deal and the outcome of it with fervor.

Continue reading →
FOREIGN POLICY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

How Trump Changed the World By defying conventional wisdom on the Middle East and China, he reshaped both political parties. Matthew Continetti

By on September 22nd, 2020

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/09/how-trump-changed-world-matthew-continetti/

On Sept. 16 the editorial board of the New York Times did the impossible. It said something nice about President Trump. “The normalization of relations between Israel and two Arab states, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, is, on the face of it, a good and beneficial development,” the editors wrote. They even went so far as to say that the “Trump administration deserves credit for brokering it.” I had to read that sentence twice to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Perhaps the world really is ending.

Or perhaps the Times cannot avoid the reality that the “Abraham Accords” between Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain are a historic achievement. It is the first advance toward peace in the Middle East since Israel signed a treaty with Jordan in 1994. By exposing the intransigence and corruption of the Palestinian authorities, and thereby removing them from the diplomatic equation, the Trump administration reestablished the “peace process” as a negotiation between states. And because the states in the region face a common foe—Iran—they have every incentive to band together. This is textbook realpolitik. The world is better off for it.

Just as remarkable as the deal itself is the bipartisan applause that greeted it in the United States. No one needs reminding that domestic politics is polarized and paranoid. Each party is convinced that the other one will extinguish democracy at the first opportunity. The past three presidencies have been jarringly discontinuous in style, temperament, and policy. But the same Democrats who sometimes appear eager to remove Donald Trump from office by any means necessary treated this foreign policy accomplishment with equanimity and acquiescence. “It is good to see others in the Middle East recognizing Israel and even welcoming it as a partner,” Biden said in a statement, adding that “a Biden-Harris administration will build on these steps.” Senator Chris Coons of Delaware told Jewish Insider that the agreement is “a very positive thing.”

Continue reading →
FOREIGN POLICY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Amateur Jared Kushner vs. Pro John Kerry By Eugene Veklerov

By on September 22nd, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/09/amateur_jared_kushner_vs_pro_john_kerry.html

Donald Trump has outsourced his Middle East policy to his son-in-law Jared Kushner. At best, it would be a waste of time, as Kushner had no experience in foreign policy. At worst, he will use this opportunity to line his own pockets.

That was one of the many lines of attacks waged by the mainstream media on President Trump. Why is amateur Kushner in the White House at all, they asked indignantly? Then something unexpected happened: 

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain announced peace deals with Israel. This good news for the world was bad news for the media. The news was reported, well, kind of, but no one acknowledged that miserable failure of the media’s gloomy predictions.

Here is how John Kerry, a seasoned professional, lectured his audience in a professorial tone of voice in 2016:

“There will be no separate peace between Israel and the Arab world,” Kerry began at a speaking engagement. “I want to make that very clear with all of you. I’ve heard several prominent politicians in Israel sometimes saying, ‘Well, the Arab world is in a different place now. We just have to reach out to them. We can work some things with the Arab world and we’ll deal with the Palestinians.’ No. No, no, and no.”

He continued, “I can tell you that, reaffirmed within the last week because I’ve talked to the leaders of the Arab community, there will be no advanced and separate peace with the Arab world without the Palestinian process and Palestinian peace. Everybody needs to understand that. That is a hard reality.”

Apparently, Kushner did not receive Kerry’s memo, and borrowing from “Star Trek,” he boldly went where no man has gone before. Those who “have not gone there before” included other experienced Secretaries of State, such as Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton. It took amateur Kushner to succeed and that was a bitter pill for CNN and the Washington Post to swallow.

Continue reading →
FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Trump and Nobel Prize: Make Deals Not War by Amir Taheri

By on September 20th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16522/trump-nobel-prize

At first glance, Donald Trump may actually have a claim to the Nobel Peace prize. He has brokered normalization between Israel and two of its erstwhile Arab enemies, with more expected to follow. He may have also cleared the last foyer of conflict in former Yugoslavia by mediating a settlement between Serbia and Kosovo.

Trump the peacemaker? The liberal elites on both sides of the Atlantic react to that phrase with a hearty “Ha! Ha! Ha!” or an angry cry of “scandal”.

What matters, as far as the Nobel judges are concerned, is that he did it; he brought peace where there was conflict.

But if they do award Trump the Nobel Prize, he will be the fifth US president to gain the accolade. And if he does, he would be the most deserving of them all.

Do Norwegian politicians have a sense of humor after all? Or are they being deliberately provocative by nominating President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in the middle of the biggest campaign of character assassination faced by any Western politician in recent times?

At first glance, Trump may actually have a claim to the dynamite-maker’s prize. He has brokered normalization between Israel and two of its erstwhile Arab enemies, with more expected to follow. He may have also cleared the last foyer of conflict in former Yugoslavia by mediating a settlement between Serbia and Kosovo.

In both cases he has managed to jump historic, emotional and ideological hurdles that many, including this writer, believed could not be crossed in the foreseeable future. How he did it and what underhand measures he employed to clinch the deals is a matter for speculation. But what matters, as far as the Nobel judges are concerned, is that he did it; he brought peace where there was conflict.

Continue reading →
FOREIGN POLICY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Trumping Palestinian lies and Tehran’s agenda In one fell swoop, Trump set the record straight about Israel and its neighbors. By Ruthie Blum 

By on September 17th, 2020

https://www.jpost.com/opinion/trumping-palestinian-lies-and-tehrans-agenda-642714

One of the most noteworthy avowals that US President Donald Trump made during his speech on Tuesday, prior to the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords, went by virtually unnoticed by champions and critics alike.
Perhaps this had to do with the fact that he said it early in his address, which was ground-breaking as a whole.

Or maybe it was because his words preceded equally significant statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al-Zayani.

After opening remarks that included thanking all those who made Jerusalem’s peace treaty with Abu Dhabi and normalization declaration with Manama possible, Trump declared, “For generations, the people of the Middle East have been held back by old conflicts, hostilities, lies, treacheries… lies that the Jews and Arabs were enemies, and that al-Aqsa Mosque was under attack.”

These falsehoods, he said “passed down from generation to generation [and] fueled a vicious cycle of terror and violence that spread across the region and all over the world.”

Continue reading →
FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

The Magnetic Genius Behind the Branding of the Abraham Accords By Bryan Preston

By on September 16th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/bryan-preston/2020/09/16/the-magnetic-genius-behind-the-branding-of-the-abraham-accords-n935335

On Tuesday in a White House ceremony, President Donald Trump made history. The United States, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates signed the Abraham Accords. Bahrain has also joined the Accords.In Jerusalem, this beautiful display of flags lit up the night to mark the historic occasion.

Seeing the flags of Arab countries projected alongside the Israeli flag on the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem to mark a new peace agreement was all but unthinkable a month ago. It’s history in the making, whether the so-called mainstream media acknowledges it or not.

If this had happened during the Obama administration, you can be sure this moment would deserve multiple special reports and hour-long specials on cable news. It would be hailed up there along with the moment Obama promised the seas would stop rising.

The Abraham Accords is the crowning achievement of the Trump administration’s foreign policy efforts to date. It is a real peace that will bring enormous benefits for the region and for Americans. Real peace means less war, obviously, and in the American context that means a greatly reduced possibility of having to send our sons and daughters off to fight in the Middle East again as we have so many times before.

This could only have happened in the context of President Trump making certain sure moves to change the context in which negotiations could take place; notably consistently and vocally backing Israel, ending the disastrous Obama capitulation to Iran, and building up America’s domestic energy industry. Those moves together strengthened America, exposed the folly of the former administration and its weak-kneed dealings with Iran, and changed the economic picture at home and around the world.

Continue reading →