Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivered a major foreign policy speech in Ohio yesterday which was once again a very mixed bag. On the one hand he promised an end to regime-change and nation-building, which if he had just stopped there and stuck to it would have been a positive development. Unfortunately his positions are less driven by principles and policy than by desire to please both the pro-war and antiwar factions. Therefore he swore to defeat radical Islamic terrorism by dropping even more bombs in the Middle East, obviously not understanding that it was US bombs in the Middle East that created the problem in the first place. He wants to blame Obama and Hillary Clinton for ISIS without understanding that they were just carrying to its conclusion the interventionist policies of George W. Bush. We take a look at the ups and downs of Trump’s foreign policy speech in today’s Ron Paul Liberty Report:
Reprinted from The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity.
The problem with all those that criticize Trump — is the expectation of him repeating all of his already established principles. If you take ANY of his speeches out of the context of his own principles — naturally, it will sound like a bunch of contradictions. Let us then stick with ISIS. Yes, Trump will not nation build. And Trump will not just let ISIS take over territories that belong to sovereign nation states. Trump principle #1 — international relations are between sovereign nation states (for help, there is a UN list of recognized states and their territories). Meaning that entities like ISIS that are carving out Iraq and Syria, need to be defeated — militarily. It is not a mystery: do not supply them with arms, transportation, food, intelligence, fuel, cars, telecom. Whoever supplies them — should feel the wrath of US. Then, all their assets should be bombed. Then, help the LEGITIMATE governments to take over territory, as their armies need to be reinforced, armed, and provided with logistics. These legitimate governments will eventually control every inch of their land. End story. The message Trump is sending is — no working with any groups, period. Not being in nation building means NOT ONLY to not try to topple regime, but it also means being supportive of legitimate governments — and not try to moralize by arming groups with all kinds of agendas. It also means stop funding HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of so called “non-governmental” organizations, or NGOs, or “civil society”, etc. These are also our nation-builders working against the legitimate governments in various countries. In Afghanistan, there are over 10,000 NGOs. Time to defund National Endowment for Democracy, National Republican Institute, Soros Foundation, Gulen Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Institute, and a dozen more funded directly or indirectly by our taxpayer.
Trump is CONSISTENT. Except that his critics either never read his FOREIGN POLICY STRATEGY, to get the foundation of his principles and goals of his foreign policy, or read it without really paying attention. Or just let mainstream media give them the “summary” of the same.
I recommend reading for yourself. You can find it easily — official Trump site, Press Releases, April 2016, Foreign Policy Strategy.
Then put his speeches in context.
“Then put his speeches in context.”
But that’s the problem. The “context” of anything Trump says is that he almost certainly said exactly the opposite five minutes ago and will almost certainly say something at a right angle to his current direction five minutes from now.
Most politicians can be counted on to say whatever they thing their audience wants to hear. That doesn’t seem to be what Trump is up to, though. It’s more like he has a virtual roulette wheel always spinning in his head and says whatever’s written next to the slot the ball lands in on any given spin.
Consider this. Trump is well centered within opinions of Americans. He was no politician, so he is learning as he goes while projecting necessary confidence, He’s willing to change with new input, and his changes are wise. He must avoid infighting over policy now or the media will attack. His middle east policy is purposely left alone for the same reason. We can’t really expect the finished product during election. Best now to judge him only on his present stated beliefs. He is smart enough to get it right when in office. The Elite know he is a danger to their NWO, and that’s a good thing.