The Trump Foreign Policy

For John, BLUF:  It isn't a safe world out there, but it wasn't two years ago, either—plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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What's Dangerous About Donald Trump's Foreign Policy?

From The Atlantic Monthly and Analyst Uri Friedman, 25 November 2017.

Excerpts:

The Trump administration "has handled things in a ... measured and firm way that will prevent North Korea from miscalculating," Han argued.  "I do not know if it is wise to push North Korea to the extent they feel they have to react in a non-peaceful way.  But North Korea has shown some degree of restraint as far as deeds are concerned, although their rhetoric has also been quite blustery."

"The most important thing is not to make the situation worse," he continued.  "We can't expect to resolve the problem in a short period of time.  But we have to patiently work on it while all the time maintaining deterrence and defense capabilities, and that the United States [under Trump] has done."

"So far," Han noted, "the present U.S. administration hasn't really made any major mistakes."

After the Thanksgiving meal, with the politically inclined at one end of the table, one person brought up Judge Roy Moore, looking, I expect, for a reaction from his staunchly Democratic Party inclined Father-in-Law.  With some deftness, and a lot of luck, I diverted the conversation to North Korea, where I figured months of reading daily proffered about North Korea gave me escalation dominance.  The Democrat, let's call him Jim, wanted to do something about Kim Jung-un.  I argued for patience, deterrence and propaganda (propaganda like the folks using balloons to send information filled USB Thumb Drives over the north).  Put me down as favoring the stats quo.

But, I am happy to hear arguments about WWHD.  Any opportunity to learn.

Regards  —  Cliff