Foreign Policy and 2016

For John, BLUF:  An alignment of Mr Trump and President Obama?.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'Do not get me into a war': Leaked emails show Obama didn't want to engage with Europe over Russia because US could be seen as a 'threat'

The source is The Daily Mail, out of the UK, and the reporter is Mr Matt Murphy.  The dateline is 29 July 2016.

Here is the lede plus two:

Hacked private emails have revealed how a US Nato chief believed President Obama did not want to engage with Europe or the Alliance over Russia because he thought they were a ‘threat’.

General Philip Breedlove, former supreme commander of Nato, said he feared the White House viewed the bloc as a ‘worry’ because their gung-ho attitude to war could drag the US into another conflict.

In an email to the former Secretary of State Colin Powell, he asked him to help him persuade the President to take a greater role in the conflict with Russia over the Ukraine.

I am not bringing this up because of cyber security or carelessness on the part of General Breedlove or former SecState Colin Powell.  There is nothing inherently classified about the exchange.

What is interesting to me is that it suggests Professor Cornell West is correct when he suggests that former SecState Hillary Clinton is leaning further forward in the fox hole than either President Obama or Mr Trump.  Start World War III.

Put another way, if you like President Obama's foreign policy you would probably be more comfortable with Mr Trump.

And, just to emphasize the point, here is an NPR interview with Ms Nussaibah Younis, Atlantic Council senior fellow, who talks, at the end, about the two candidates and their views on intervention in Syria.

Again, Mr Trump seems to be more aligned with President Obama.

Regards  —  Cliff