Turkey

Disturbing Right Wing Trend In International Affairs, Mirroring Donald Trump!

As the threat of Donald Trump continues to be a menace, we are seeing in international affairs a troubling and disturbing trend of right wing populism, mirroring his extremism.

Already, this has been evident in Turkey, Poland, Hungary, Italy, and now The Netherlands, along with Egypt, India, Myanmar, and now Argentina, and dangers of right wing extremism threatening to rise in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Religion, whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist is a growing factor in these nations.

It seems as if the world is moving back into the Fascism movement that was so prominent in the 1930s and 1940s.

Joe Biden’s Foreign Policy Challenges In Year Two Of His Presidency

In addition to the uncertainty and tensions domestically, surrounding the danger of Donald Trump and the Republicans striving to end American democracy, Joe Biden faces massive foreign policy challenges in year two of his Presidency.

The Russian Federation and Vladamir Putin seem poised to invade Ukraine, with NATO and the US determined to punish Russia with harsh economic sanctions if that horrible event occurs.

China seems poised to invade Taiwan at some point, with the US stating it would come to the defense of that island, without being specific, but with the reality that a direct military intervention seems unlikely or manageable.

Iran seems resistant to resuming the 2015 nuclear agreement that Donald Trump destroyed during his Presidency, and there is the danger of a Iran-Israel War on the horizon.

North Korea and Kim Jong Un continue to test nuclear weapons, and therefore, represent a clear and present danger to US interests and neighboring nations in Asia.

Other nations have become more autocratic, including Hungary, Poland, Turkey, and Egypt in recent years, and democracy seems clearly to be on the defensive.

How much America can have an impact on these “hot spots” is hard to imagine, but that is not saying that Donald Trump or any other potential President would have any more fortune in world affairs!

A Delicate Time, As Reaction Of Donald Trump To Attack On Two Military Bases In Iraq By Iran, Could Lead To Total War In Middle East

Five days after the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani by orders of Donald Trump, Iran has reacted by attacking two US bases in Iraq.

This could lead to total war in the Middle East, including Israel and Saudi Arabia leagued against Iran, but with Trump not getting unified support from usual allies, such as in NATO.

Trump could be responsible for World War 3, as likely, China and Russia and Turkey would be leagued against us and with Iran.

This evil man is disrupting the entire world, as he has in the United States, and he cannot leave office soon enough, but already, the damage he has done will reverberate for many years, likely for decades!

Most Significant Events Of 2019 In Public Affairs

When one looks back at the most significant events of 2019 in public affairs, the following would stand out in no special order:

The impeachment of Donald Trump on charges of Obstruction of Justice and Abuse of Congress.

The Democratic House of Representatives passing about 400 bills, but almost all going nowhere in the Republican Senate.

The growing influence of Democratic women in Congress, with the most ever being elected to the House of Representatives.

The magnificent leadership and courage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff.

The continuing crisis of global warming and climate change, and the refusal of the US government under Donald Trump to deal with the evolving disaster.

The total lack of empathy, compassion, common decency of the US government toward refugees at the border, particularly the separation of children from their families, often with no tracking and paper work done, meaning many children are lost forever to their parents.

The US Government attack on the intelligence community, the diplomatic community, the judiciary, and the civil servants who serve our nation honorably, and are now being trashed, and many resigning or being forced out, a major loss long run to the American nation.

The growing evidence of the US government being manipulated by foreign powers, including Russia, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other authoritarian dictatorships, at the expense of America’s traditional allies, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other nations in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as allies in Asia, including Japan and South Korea.

The growing evidence of corruption, malfeasance, and incompetence of many members of the Donald Trump cabinet, as well as other top officials in many agencies of the US government.

The growing division of the American people by race, nationality, religion, gender, age, and sexual orientation, being encouraged and promoted by the racism, nativism, misogyny, antisemitism, and homophobia of the Trump Administration policies, and the total lack of civility and promotion of bullyism advanced by the 45th President.

Donald Trump Undermines Democracy In Ukraine, South Korea, Middle East, Hong Kong And Elsewhere In Favor Of Russia, North Korea, Turkey, China And Other Authoritarian Governments

It is now very clear that Donald Trump acts like an authoritarian leader, and is working to undermine democracy and the rule of law everywhere he can, outside the United States.

Trump cozies up to dictators in Russia, China, North Korea, Turkey, Egypt, Brazil, the Philippines, Hungary, Poland, and innumerable other nations, as all he cares about is MONEY and profit and his own aggrandizement of power.

In so doing, Trump endangers Ukraine, the entire Middle East, Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, the Kurds, and our NATO allies, but he has no conscience or concern about human rights or freedom.

The authoritarian nations are marching forward with the endorsement and support of Donald Trump!

Death Of ISIS Leader A Momentary Positive For Donald Trump, But It Will Not Last

The announcement this morning of the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by Special Forces in Syria is a momentary positive for Donald Trump, as was the case with the death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, 2011 during the administration of Barack Obama.

It will certainly go down as an accomplishment that Trump can lay claim to, as Obama did with Osama bin Laden.

But it does not mean that America is safely isolated from the Middle East quagmire, and since so many ISIS fighters were released from prison as a result of the Turkish assault in Syria against Kurds in the past two weeks, one can be sadly assured that there will be a revival of ISIS under different leadership, ready to commit terrorist acts and torture people as they did from 2014 onward.

The likelihood of ISIS retribution for the death of their leader is certain, and will affect European nations but also the United States, making the idea of foreign travel by Americans not a good idea short term, and possibly, long term.

We can rejoice and congratulate Donald Trump on this, but the road ahead in international affairs in the year up to the Presidential Election of 2020 is impossible to predict, as to whether it will benefit Trump, or his Democratic opposition, all based on events we cannot forecast.

Abandonment Of Kurdish Allies Who Fought ISIS Will Reverberate In History As One Of Worst Blunders Of Any President

The decision of President Donald Trump to give license to the Turkish Government to slaughter America’s Kurdish allies is a horrendous blunder, which will reverberate in history, and will, sadly, lead to ISIS attacks on Europe and the United States in the short and long run.

After having successfully neutralized ISIS, which formed in 2014, and with thousands of Kurdish troops in the Middle East sacrificing their lives in the effort, now we see our President abandoning them to slaughter, an action which will make it difficult for any nation or nationality group worldwide to ever trust America again.

Trump’s action also emboldens Vladimir Putin, as now Russia has more involvement in the Middle East than ever before, and it is assured that Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan are turning over in their graves at what Trump has done.

It also insures that Iran will have a greater role in the area, which Trump has been, previously motivated to prevent.

One would think that Israel should be very concerned, as Trump has made their security position much more difficult to insure.

Many Republicans in Congress have finally spoken up against this despicable action, more than any other issue that has arisen to alienate them, and it just further promotes the impeachment move against the President, which now seems much more assured to occur soon.

Donald Trump Foreign Policy A Total Disaster!

President Donald Trump has totally destroyed American foreign policy, creating a massive disaster which will impact the nation and the world for long beyond his tenure in office.

He has damaged our relationships with our democratic allies in NATO, along with our alliance with Japan and South Korea.

He has developed a total admiration for authoritarian dictatorships, including Russia, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, the Philippines, and Brazil.

He has created a situation in the Middle East that is causing disintegration of any hope of stability, by helping Russia, Iran, Syria and Turkey massacre the Kurdish minority that helped the world against ISIS. And he claims to be unwilling to trust Iran on the repudiated Nuclear Deal, but now is helping them and Vladimir Putin to increase their influence in the Middle East, a situation which also endangers Israel.

ISIS now is again a major threat to the world, particularly to our allies in NATO, and Trump seemed to encourage that with his outrageous comments last week, showing lack of concern with that reality. But it will also affect the United States as well over time, and will make it more dangerous for Americans to travel world wide, as ISIS will be out to attack Americans, as well as Europeans.

Trump is totally clueless on foreign policy, and has fired anyone who has any sense of reality on the subject, and now has sycophants working to destroy the Foreign Service and the State Department, a long range detriment to any future President who will follow Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

This is only one of a multitude of reasons why Donald Trump needs to be removed from the Presidency, but will 20 Republicans join 47 Democrats in doing what needs to be done, to rid the Presidency of this menace to the nation and to the world?

Sadly, the odds are strongly against it!

Major Republican Opposition To Trump On Abandonment Of Kurds To Turkish Dictatorship Desire To Exterminate Them

Donald Trump has opened up a major revolt in the Republican Party by his decision to abandon the Kurds, who helped defeat ISIS, and allowing the Turkish dictatorship to mount an assault, with the purpose of “ethnic cleansing” of a nationality, which has long wanted its own nationhood, but is considered by the Turks to be a terrorist group. However, thousands of Kurds died fighting ISIS alongside the international coalition led by the United States.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Lindsey Graham, House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Ben Sasse, Senator Rob Portman, Senator Patrick Toomey, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Christian Broadcasting Network evangelical Pat Robertson, and innumerable others denounced Trump. They said he was undermining national security, and creating the likelihood of revived ISIS terrorism in the future.

Trump is proving how he has no concept of how to deal with foreign policy, and is most interested in pleasing dictators as with Turkey, a nation which should not be favored in assessments of the Middle East.

Whether this anger and growing split on the Kurds will cause any real opposition to Trump on other issues, and on the impending impeachment, seems highly unlikely, but Trump clearly is undermining Republican fear of antagonizing him.

Donald Trump And Disposal Of Human Rights, The Goal Of Jimmy Carter Four Decades Ago

In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter enunciated his belief in human rights, and pursued a policy of denunciation of those nations which denied human rights to their citizens.

Now, four decades later, President Donald Trump has totally reversed such a policy, and has embraced leaders of nations which massively violate human rights.

So we see Trump embracing Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation ; Kim Jong Un of North Korea; Xi Jinping of China; Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia; Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt; Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey; Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines; Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil; Jaroslaw Kaczynski of Poland; Viktor Orban of Hungary; and other authoritarians who deny basic civil rights and civil liberties to their citizens, and persecute minorities and immigrants in their midst, and threaten journalists, extremely alarming and disturbing.

At the same time, Trump attacks and is critical of the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the other nations in NATO, and it is clear that he is enamored with dictators over democratic leaders.

In so doing, Trump is undermining the concept of liberal democracy, and destroying American constitutional principles, damaging the image of America, and destabilizing international affairs.