Trump's foreign policy: Make Russia Great Again...revisited

The heartbreak of the humanitarian disaster in Aleppo has created a great deal of finger pointing. Many wish Pres. Obama had not decided to have taken a hands off position. . However, the puzzle is what Donald Trump would have done differently and what he will decide to do when he takes office. He indicated in the campaign he would have done even less, leaving the country's civil war to Russia and Assad. Those two were the perpetrators and deserve universal condemnation. The irony may be that by the time he takes office, facts on the ground will have already made any decision by him moot. The winners, Russia and Assad, will have become the reality. Barack Obama, justly or unjustly, will have a blot on his legacy for being the enabler by his decision to ignore the crossing of the red line he himself painted several years ago.

To see this in a larger context going forward, what is going to be Don Trump's relationship with Russia? Will he also abandon the Ukraine, the Baltic states to Russian stealth takeover? Will he lead NATO into an eclipse by not evoking military and political protection of the Baltics who are members of NATO? Will he recognize Russian takeover of eastern Ukraine and the de facto annexation of the Crimea? Will he see Russia as a threat to the US, in spite of the US intelligence agencies verifying their interference in our elections, or Vladimir Putin as a friend and mentor to him personally?

To take clues of where he had been in the campaign as a way to predict the future, it is possible that he will support Russia's foreign policy, and would have supported it in Syria, too.

This is a partial reposting of a blog I authored September 8 and it was written even before Trump tapped the President of Exxon who had received a medal of friendship from Vladimir Putin to be our new Secretary of State.

"Donald Trump in the recent "Commander in Chief" forum called Vladimir Putin a better leader than President Obama.  That bromance between Trump and Putin is more than just a matter of flattery and egos.  It has real repercussions for future conduct of foreign policy if Trump is elected. Trump supports foreign policies that dovetail neatly with Russia's,, excusing the Russian grab of the Crimea, going along with the stealth invasion of Eastern Ukraine, calling NATO obsolete as a military defense alliance, and fuzzy about whether Russia's ally Assad in Syria must go. None of those policies are in America's or our allies' interests."

In fact, if Pres. Obama's leadership in the region is regarded by his critics as "weak", Donald Trump's leaving the field to Russia in areas of conflict in Europe, would be even weaker, and hardly is a way to make "America Great again" as a world leader. Instead, it helps make Russia great again.

http://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2016/09/trumps-foreign-policy-make-russia-great.html

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/vice-presidential-debate-putin-mike-pence-donald-trump-229147

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-quotes/

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-exclusive-idUSKCN12P2PZ

Smoke and fire in the 2016 presidential race. Hillary's mostly smoke; Trump's smoke has some fire

The stench of smoke has settled over this race to the White House.  Whether it means there is fire that is causing it is a matter of perception, the public’s definition of fire,  and finding evidence of a connection that indeed influences action that changes policy.

The low approval ratings reflected in polls of both major candidates are evidence that voters are not deaf and blind.  Even polls show that what is motivating voters to support one or the other is revulsion

 and dislike of  the opposing party candidate.  Clouds of smoke that hang over the race is as good as fire fueling voter preferences.  Recent news and investigative reporting have only added to the stink  of the smoke. Perception is more important than reality as a factor that influences public opinion. Smoke counts. Less important in the public’s eye is whether there is fire there.

 Thanks to  Colorado pollster and astute political observer Floyd Ciruli who recently concluded that Colorado is no longer in the toss up category as it is turning ever darker shades of bue in the electoral college map.  He drew heavily on a recent Quinnipiac  poll that partisan dislike of the opposition candidate is what is motivating voter preferences, not the positive love a candidate. The search for viable alternatives as a way out is anemic. So far the Libertarian Party has not polled higher than around 8% on the average and the Green Party is far behind as a third party choice.

 While a strong case can be made that taken all together, Benghazi, Hillary Clinton’s private email server, and the appearance of pay to play in the Clinton relationship to their family foundation makes it appear that Clinton is greedy and self promoting , truth  stretching, defensive  tail covering. However none  of those  issues have shown that policy resulted that rise to  the fire of illegal activity or influenced policy.. She appeared after innumerable Congressional hearings to be at arms length  with policies that resulted in the death of an ambassador in Benghazi.  The FBI investigation could not prove that she intentionally sent emails that had classified information. So far, even the Associated Press in their excellent reporting could not find that there was evidence national policy  changes resulted from giving access to non governmental connected foreign and domestic Foundation donors.. Nonetheless, the smell lingers.  The only way out of the stink is to close down the Foundation now and turn over its resources and administration of humanitarian aid to the Bill  Gates Foundation that has the capacity and similar philosophy to carry on.  It is not a matter of admitting wrong doing to shutter the Foundation;  it the most effective way  to remove the perception of wrong doing.

However, the New York Times digging around found that Donald Trump’s pronouncement  on foreign affairs issues show a connection to his business dealings.  He owes the Bank of China and Goldman Sachs in his finance dealings and his goals and business dealings with Russia are no secret now.  Trump’s  anti Southeast (TPP) trade agreement) positions may be a problem, too.  

Opposing the TPP may be a lure  for the Midwest belt  voters lying in rust with job killing globalization, but the TPP was also promoted to strengthen allies in Southeast Asia against Chines expansionism in the region.  His bromance of mutual flattery and echoing Russia’s President Putin’s  declaring NATO was obsolete, Russia did not grab eastern Ukraine  or that his reliance on debts to Wall street is indeed has a  suspicious connection to this business dealings. In these cases, there is fire of policy positions within the fog of smoke.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/politics/trump-nafta-tpp/index.html

http://time.com/4433880/donald-trump-ties-to-russia/

http://fciruli.blogspot.com/2016/08/colorado-now-considered-part-of.html

https://www.qu.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/2016-presidential-swing-state-polls/release-detail?ReleaseID=2373