Showing posts with label Foreign Policy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Policy. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Pompeo is right: You can’t separate a rogue regime from its roguery.

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Thursday, April 19, 2018

Trump Vastly Better than Obama at Foreign Policy





Now that we have learned CIA director and secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jung Un over Easter, it is time to acknowledge the obvious: the foreign policy of political novice Donald Trump has been vastly more successful that that of the supposedly experienced Barack Obama.

And vastly is an understatement. Obama's foreign policy was a disaster, beginning with the peculiar apology tour that mystified much of its Middle Eastern audience, through the yet more peculiar (misspelled) reset button with Russia that further mystified Sergei Lavrov, on to Obama's overheard whisper to Medvedev telling Putin he would be more accommodating on missile defense after the election (imagine the apoplectic reaction of our media if Trump did that!), to the Libyan war leading to the assassination of Qaddafi (the only Arab leader to voluntarily denuclearize) that created a failed state and a raft of refugees to Italy and elsewhere, and, of course, the rapid exit from Iraq that gave rise to ISIS.

And this omits the equally egregious examples -- the failure to enforce the red line on Assad's use of chemical weapons, about which he naively believed Putin, and the never-signed, never-published Iran Deal itself, which has done nothing but enrich the mullahs who wreak havoc from Venezuela to Yemen. This duplicitous and unverifiable non-agreement prolonged the monstrous Syrian civil war, causing the greatest refugee crisis since World War II and changing the character of Europe possibly forever.

There's more but you get the point. Not even Jimmy Carter had that bad a record. And this is without Obama's sickening lack of response to the freedom demonstrators in Iran. ("Obama, Obama, are you with us or are you with them?" Well, we know.)

And Trump? ...
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Thursday, January 18, 2018

MUST READ: President Nobama


...The wonder was never how to grow the economy at 3 percent (all presidents prior to 2009 had at one time or another done just that), but rather, contrary to “expert” economic opinion, how to discover ways to prevent that organic occurrence.

Obama was the first modern president who apparently figured out how. It took the efforts of a 24/7 redistributionist agenda of tax increases, federalizing health care, massive new debt, layers of more regulation, zero-interest rates, neo-socialist regulatory appointments, expansionary eligibility for entitlements, and constant anti-free-market jawboning that created a psychological atmosphere conducive to real retrenchment, mental holding patterns, and legitimate fears over discernable success. Obama weaponized federal agencies including the IRS, DOJ, and EPA in such a manner as to worry anyone successful, prominent, and conservative enough to come under the federal radar of a vindictive Lois Lerner, Eric Holder, or a FISA court.

Trump has sought to undo all that, point by point. The initial result so far is not rocket science, but rather a natural expression of what happens when millions of Americans believe they have greater freedom and safety to profit and innovate, and trust they will not be punished, materially or psychologically, for the ensuing successful results....
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Sunday, November 19, 2017

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Discusses African Continent and U.S. Policy…



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Saturday, November 5, 2016

Trump's aversion to political correctness will serve him well as Commander-In-Chief

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Saturday, October 15, 2016

SORTING THRU THE EMAILS: The Most Revealing Emails from the #PodestaFiles, Separated By Category (Parts 1 - 8)



POLICY / POSITION

...FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Hillary admits Qatar & Saudi Arabia are funding ISIS:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/3774#efmBA5BDe

Qatar gifts Bill Clinton $1,000,000 for his birthday:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/8396#efmAEOAGW

Saudi Sheikh won’t donate money to Clinton Foundation unless he receives a phone call from Bill Clinton. Staff responds: Bill won’t do it “unless Sheikh Mo has sent us a $6 million check”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6775#efmACoADwAIqAJzAOXASM

Leaked private speech transcript: Clinton: Syria no-fly zone (her position) would mean “killing a lot of Syrians”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/927#attachments (See attachment)

Iran Deal (which Hillary negotiated and defends) “condemns the next generation to cleaning up a nuclear war in the Persian Gulf”. John Podesta responds with “Yup”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/727#efmAAGAAJABQAEL

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta owned 75,000 shares in Putin-connected energy company:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/4635#efmAFyAGUAWLAYP

MEDIA COLLUSION...

CAMPAIGN STRATEGY / CONCERNS

Clinton strategist: We need to “produce an unaware and compliant citizenry” to defeat Trump:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/3599#efmARKATm

Democrats prepared fake Trump “grope under the meeting table” Craigslist employment advertisement in May 2016:
https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/12803

Worried about Hillary’s health getting attention: “Hard to think of anything more counter productive than demanding Bernie’s medical records.”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/2953#efmAAvACJ

Clinton Campaign Insiders Fear Bill’s Sex Life Could Sink Hillary. Podesta says they should “shut the hell up about this”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/2301#efmAPjARK

Major concern over Hillary’s shady financing. It can “bring down a Hillary Clinton candidacy”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6900#efmAAGAD3ALmASb

Hillary campaign desperate to generate fake “USA!” chants, calls Trump supporters “angry white guys”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/4518

Advisor to John Podesta: “Apologies are like her Achilles heel. But she didn’t seem like a bitch in the interview.”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/8961#efmADnAFD

Worrying about Hillary’s low turnout at events:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6370#efmAU2AWj

Brent Budowsky (writer for The Hill and Huffington Post) acting as an advisor again: Warns Podesta: “Almost every message being projected outward from her campaign is negative, and a candidate with high distrust ratings should not be doing this. My phone has been ringing and my email box is full with democrats who like me who support her, but like me, are appalled and losing confidence” “This campaign is in very, very big trouble”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/7742#efmAAGAE0AlqAnx

John Podesta tells Hillary Clinton she needs to reach out to “needy Latinos”:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/6777

Clinton allies pondered polling in 2008 about Obama’s cocaine use, his father’s Muslim faith:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/7860#efmAQTASMAYtAZ-

Gathering information on Juanita Broaddrick, who accused Bill Clinton of raping her:
https://www.wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/10275

Senior Clinton aide Huma Abedin in leaked email: 'Can we survive not answering questions' from press?:
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/5621#efmAUYAUjAcyAdj

BERNIE SANDERS...

MORE

____________________________

“WikiLeaks has a perfect decade long record for accurate vetting. That is why no one challeges the #PodestaFiles, including the White House.”
— Wikileaks, #PodestaFiles publisher
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Saturday, October 1, 2016

Obama's new critics on foreign policy: Democrats



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Sunday, September 11, 2016

9/11: Benghazi









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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Donald Trump’s National Security Speech: A Presidential Address



Donald Trump’s remarks in Youngstown implicitly addressed another important issue about his candidacy. Particularly for those who have been uncertain about the GOP nominee’s propensity to make provocative comments, concerns played upon by critics’ assailing his judgment, this speech should be comforting. It not only displayed a discipline on the part of the Republican nominee to “stay on script.” It also spoke volumes about the quality of the people who are advising Candidate Trump and writing that script – and, presumably, who would be advising him should he win the White House. At no point since 9/11, and arguably for thirteen years before, has there been a better articulation of what’s at stake and what needs to be done to secure freedom, namely by seeking and achieving Victory over Jihad. We desperately need more such visionary and collaborative leadership.

Donald Trump set the stage yesterday in Youngstown for the sort of national debate – and choice – that is long overdue and absolutely necessary. Bring it on.











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Monday, August 15, 2016

Trump Gives Major Anti-Terror Speech: Hillary Is 'America's Angela Merkel'









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Monday, June 13, 2016

Trump responded to Clinton's criticism of his foreign policy with this simple statement

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Friday, June 3, 2016

Post Editorial Board: Clinton’s warnings about Trump actually describe … her



Hillary Clinton’s folks billed her San Diego speech Thursday as a big deal. And it certainly was a prime opportunity to lay out her views on foreign policy and America’s role in the world.

But what she delivered was a 45-minute rant against Donald Trump — with nary a clue about her plans for leading America on the international stage.

Worse, her string of dump-on-Trump quips might’ve worked better if she had substituted her name for his, starting with her attack on Trump’s “series of rants” — a perfect description of her own speech.

Clinton tried to portray Trump as “dangerous.” But what do you call it when a secretary of state, to shield herself from accountability, stores classified emails (some beyond “top secret”) on her private, unsecured server, leaving them vulnerable to hackers the world over?

Or who goes home for the night with a US consulate besieged by al Qaeda-linked terrorists — then later lies to the victims’ families about how a YouTube video was to blame?

Clinton called Trump “temperamentally unfit” to be commander-in-chief. But how would you describe an ex-top official who continually lies to the public and holds herself above the law?

Trump “doesn’t understand” the world, she said — but then denied that the world has laughed at President Obama’s weakness. She even claimed we’re “safer” with Obama’s deal with Iran, which gives the mullahs a clear path to nuclear weapons and hundreds of billions to fund terrorism.

Who doesn’t understand the world?

More: Hillary said Trump would “embolden” our enemies. Yet, like Obama, she can’t even bring herself to call ISIS what it is: “radical Islamic extremists.” How does she think the terrorists are reacting to that?





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Thursday, June 2, 2016

Hillary has experience in foreign policy much the same way Wile E. Coyote has experience in explosives.

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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Donald Trump delivers major foreign policy speech















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Saturday, April 16, 2016

Trump’s vision of the world — and his conception of statecraft — isn’t one I much like, but it reflects a fairly coherent theory of international relations. It’s realist, transactional, and Machiavellian — and it demands a serious, thoughtful, and nondefensive response.



Though it pains me to say it, Donald Trump is crazy like a fox. Despite the braggadocio, the bullying, and the bluster — despite the contradictions, misstatements, and near-total absence of actual facts — Trump is, to a great extent, nonetheless articulating a coherent vision of international relations and America’s role in the world....

...To those who criticize his apparent contradictions, his vagueness about his ultimate strategic objectives, or his willingness to make public threats, he offers a simple and Machiavellian response: “We need unpredictability.” To Trump, an effective negotiator plays his cards close to his chest: He doesn’t let anyone know his true bottom line, and he always preserves his ability to make a credible bluff. (Here it is, from the transcript of his conversation with the New York Times: “You know, if I win, I don’t want to be in a position where I’ve said I would or I wouldn’t [use force to resolve a particular dispute].… I wouldn’t want to say. I wouldn’t want them to know what my real thinking is.”)

Trump has little time for either neoconservatives or liberal interventionists; he thinks they allow their belief in American virtue to blind them to both America’s core interests and the limits of American power. He has even less time for multilateralist diplomats: They’re too willing to compromise, trading away American interests in exchange for platitudes about friendship and cooperation. And he has no time at all for those who consider long-standing U.S. alliances sacrosanct. To Trump, U.S. alliances, like potential business partners in a real-estate transaction, should always be asked: “What have you done for me lately?”...
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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

“It was completely disconnected from reality”

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Wednesday, July 29, 2015

MARTIN PERETZ: The Democrat Party is on the Edge of the Abyss



Two of the most powerful members of the Democratic Party, former and current senators from New York, now hold the fate of the putative deal with Iran in their hands. Because they alone can overturn it, this means that presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and presumptive Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer carry a heavy burden that will deeply affect their personal reputations and, most probably, the trustworthiness of the Democrats in foreign policy for at least a generation....

...U.S. sanctions do matter, and their continuation (in the absence of reasonable satisfaction of congressional conditions) will affect Iranian calculations. Moreover, the uncertainty created in the Iranian leadership will restore some leverage to the next American president. If Schumer and Clinton instead passively capitulate to the flawed approach of the administration, they will bear their full share of responsibility for the substance of the deal and the consequences for their party.
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Sunday, June 14, 2015

Ted Cruz Op-Eds:



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Friday, June 12, 2015

Marty Lederman breaks down Jerusalem passport case

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Thursday, May 14, 2015

Marco Rubio Schools Jeb Bush on Foreign Policy



Marco Rubio proved he can hang with the big hawks in his first foreign policy speech since he declared his run for president.
The student has now become the teacher.

Sen. Marco Rubio, once viewed as a protege of presidential competitor Jeb Bush, schooled the former Florida governor Wednesday evening in the first national security address of his national campaign.

As compared to Jeb Bush, who fumbled and stumbled through his first major national security address, Marco Rubio delivered a master class on foreign policy that spoke to the soul of the right’s hawkish neoconservatives.

In New York City, before the Council of Foreign Relations and their foreign policy experts, Rubio showed himself to be a peer.

In an hour before the Council, he spoke about everything from Filipino typhoon survivors to keeping South China Sea transit ways accessible—and at one point corrected longtime broadcaster and forum moderator Charlie Rose about the extent to which there are Iranian fighters in Iraq.

And he got into the details: he condemned Iranian efforts to develop a long-range ballistic missile capability, a specific gripe of hawkish Iranian experts that doesn’t get much attention. He said the conditions don’t exist for a two-state solution; that the VA system needs to be reformed; that he’s open to Ukraine joining NATO.... ◼ KEEP READING



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