Tag: Trump foreign policy

How a behind-the-scenes bare-knuckle brawl shaped US foreign policy under Trump

AlterNet logoIt was a bare-knuckle brawl of the first order. It took place in Washington, D.C., and it resulted in a KO. The winners? Lobbyists and the defense industry. The losers? Us. And odds on, you didn’t even know that it happened. Few Americans did, which is why it’s worth telling the story of how Saudi, Emirati, and Qatari money flooded the nation’s capital and, in the process, American policy went down for the count.

The fight began three years ago this month. Sure, the pugilists hadn’t really liked each other that much before then, but what happened in 2017 was the foreign-policy equivalent of a sucker punch. On the morning of June 5th, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, and Bahrain announced that they were severing diplomatic ties with Qatar, the small but wealthy emirate in the Persian Gulf, and establishing a land, air, and sea blockade of their regional rival, purportedly because of its ties to terrorism.

The move stunned the Qataris, who responded in ways that would later become familiar during the Covid-19 pandemic — by emptying supermarket shelves and hoarding essentials they worried would quickly run out. Their initial fears were not unwarranted, as their neighbors, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were even reported to be planning to launch a military invasion of Qatar in the weeks to come (one that would be thwarted only by the strong objections of Donald Trump’s then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson). Continue reading.

Trump’s tragic clowning — and his global surrender to China and Russia — have exposed America as a declining empire

AlterNet logoMany Americans who were children sometime between the 1950s and the 1980s no doubt remember Game of the States. It was (and evidently still is) a simpleminded catch-and-carry board game through which multiple generations learned vague, generic facts about the 50 states. That game is probably the reason I know all 50 state capitals to this day. Massachusetts and Georgia are tough because the answers are too obvious; South Carolina and West Virginia are tough because the answers seem almost intentionally confusing.

But the most important teaching tool in Game of the States was its playing surface, which depicted the United States floating in a sea of blue, an innocent island of Idaho potatoes, Missouri hams and Pennsylvania steel. If as economic history the game was completely devoid of context or dynamics, as geography it was even worse. Canada? Mexico? What and where are they, exactly? Both our neighboring nations appear to have vaporized. If any trade exists with them or anyplace else in the outside world, it’s entirely invisible.

Far too much about America is explained by Game of the States. We have an ingrained national tendency to behave as if the rest of the world simply doesn’t exist — or, on a slightly more sophisticated level, as if it were just a colorful backdrop for our vastly more important national dramas. The only time “foreign policy” plays a significant role in American politics — for liberals or conservatives or really anyone — is when a major overseas war becomes an unavoidable and damaging issue, as with Vietnam in 1968 and 1972, and Iraq in 2008. Continue reading.

U.S. military puts Korean workers on unpaid leave as talks over costs continue

Washington Post logoTOKYO — The commander of U.S. troops in South Korea said he was heartbroken on Wednesday after taking the unprecedented step of putting about 4,000 local workers on unpaid leave — in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic — as the allies struggle to reach agreement on sharing defense costs.

The impasse stems from President Trump’s demand that Seoul raise more than fivefold its contribution to the cost of stationing about 28,500 U.S. troops in the country, a demand that South Korea says is politically impossible to meet.

Negotiators have since narrowed the gap between the two sides, and South Korea believes a deal may be close. But with money running out, the U.S. military command in South Korea placed nearly half the South Korean workers at its military bases on unpaid leave on Wednesday, for the first time in the history of the 70-year alliance. Continue reading.

Key in Trump’s deal with the Taliban: Ex-prisoners whose release in 2014 unleashed Republican furor

Washington Post logoAs American negotiators raced to clinch last month’s landmark deal with the Taliban, several shadowy figures played a surprising but significant role: former Guantanamo Bay detainees whose release in a 2014 prisoner exchange sparked a partisan firestorm.

The so-called Taliban Five, a group of high-level militant inmates traded for an American during the Obama administration, worked behind the scenes to build support for the agreement, current and former U.S. and Taliban officials say.

Several of the men wielded their clout, as prominent figures from the Taliban’s pre-9/11 government and longtime prisoners of the United States, to push months of fractious negotiations toward a deal. One of them, a fearsome former commander accused in the deaths of religious minorities in Afghanistan, traveled at least twice to Pakistan to generate buy-in among skeptical militant commanders, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the negotiations. Continue reading.

Trump takes direct aim at China as known U.S. infections double and criticism mounts

Washington Post logoPresident Trump took direct aim at China on Thursday for allowing the spread of the coronavirus that has sickened Americans, shut down much of daily life and pushed the U.S. economy toward recession, while deflecting criticism that his administration was caught flat-footed by the outbreak.

The president dug in on his use of the term “Chinese virus” to describe the novel coronavirus that was first detected in Wuhan, China, late last year and did not rule out directing economic retaliation toward Beijing.

“Thank you all for being here, and we continue our relentless effort to defeat the Chinese virus,” Trump said near the top of his combative appearance before reporters at the White House. Continue reading.

Trump’s Taliban deal falls apart — and Republicans are taking notice

AlterNet logoCongressional Republicans have remained remarkably unwavering in their fealty to President Trump. But even as they march lock-step right into the middle of a global health outbreak — mocking the crisis while simultaneously self-quarantining — a number of GOP lawmakers have broken with the president over his latest foreign policy bungle.

On Monday, U.S. officials confirmed that the initial troop withdrawal out of Afghanistan had begun, with aims to remove all U.S. troops within 14 months, which would bring 18 years of intermittent combat operations to an end. The U.S. is following through on its part of a peace agreement with the Taliban to reduce its troop strength in Afghanistan — even after confirming that the Islamist militant network has already reneged on its pledges.

Ending America’s longest and most unpopular war would undoubtedly be a good thing for a president facing a panicked economy and looming pandemic. Afghan and American forces killed more civilians in 2019 than the Taliban did, according to a UN report. Within hours of signing a peace deal with the Taliban late last month, however, this supposedly historical achievement by the Trump administration turned into a public embarrassment. Continue reading.

South Korean military: North Korea fired unidentified projectiles

The Hill logoNorth Korea’s military launched three unidentified projectiles, South Korea’s military said early Monday morning local time.

CNBC first reported the statement from South Korea’s military. It was unclear where the launches occurred, but a statement from South Korea’s defense ministry obtained by CNN stated that three projectiles had been fired towards the Sea of Japan, where previous weapons tests have occurred.

“Our military detected three unidentified projectiles fired this morning from the Sondok area in Hamgyong Province, North Korea, toward northeast, toward the East Sea,” the South Korea Defense Ministry said, according to CNN. Continue reading.

U.N. agency sees sharp increase in Iran’s uranium stockpile, potentially reducing time needed to build a nuclear bomb

Washington Post logoIran is dramatically ramping up production of enriched uranium in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal, the U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed Tuesday while also criticizing Tehran for blocking access to possible nuclear-related sites.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency reported a near-tripling of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium just since November, with total holdings more than three times the 300-kilogram limit set by the nuclear accord. Iran also substantially increased the number of machines it is using to enrich uranium, the agency said, allowing it to make more of the nuclear fuel faster.

The confidential report provided to member states and obtained by The Washington Post is the first since Iran announced it would no longer adhere to any of the nuclear pact’s restrictions on uranium fuel production, in a protest of the Trump administration’s decision to walk away from the deal. Iran has declined to formally pull out of the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in which it had to sharply curtail its nuclear activities and submit to intrusive inspections in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Continue reading.

Five things to know about emerging US, Taliban peace deal

The Hill logoThe United States and the Taliban are on the verge of signing what would be a historic agreement aimed at winding down America’s longest war, potentially fulfilling one of President Trump‘s key promises.

But first comes a weeklong test. A seven-day “reduction in violence” period started Friday afternoon Washington time, midnight Saturday Afghanistan time.

The initial agreement to reduce violence is aimed at building confidence ahead of signing a broader peace agreement. Continue reading.

Trump’s US delegation was ‘dumbfounded’ by hostile reception at Munich conference: report

AlterNet logoAccording to a report from Politico, the U.S. delegation attending the Munich Security Conference were “dumbfounded” by the hostile reception they received from world leaders which included more than a few speeches that were highly critical of the policies of Donald Trump.

The report kicks off by stating, “If the three-day event, which drew to a close on Sunday, illustrated anything, it was that the divergence between the U.S. and the dominant European powers — Germany and France (the U.K. was MIA) — is greater than ever. Those who thought last year’s tense gathering represented a low point in the relationship left Munich this year chastened.”

Over the weekend, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a seventeen-minute speech that included praise for the president’s economic policies that was greeted with silence, while other leaders took shots at the U.S. Continue reading.