Trump’s Twitter Foreign Policy
[guest post by Dana]
Confession: I don’t own a Trump decoder ring. I’m sure some will emphatically say that this is a brilliant display of foreign policy chess being played out before the world and before several critical world leaders that are of great concern to the US. OK then.
One would assume as one’s position in the world increases in stature and weight, it might make a difference in one’s approach to critical conflicts. One might assume wrongly:
As far as new national security advisor John Bolton is concerned, having been on the job just a few short days, here are a few comments from February that provide a glimpse into his views on the matter of Syria:
I believe since the Syrian civil war broke out nearly seven years ago that the subject of Syria is, sadly, tragic though it might be, is a sideshow in terms of the bigger strategic picture in the Middle East,” Bolton said on Fox in February, using his preferred epithet for the conflict.
While many of his ideological fellow travelers have argued that Assad is the primary problem causing Syria’s many conflicts, Bolton instead posited that the dictator of Damascus was at best a tertiary concern, ranking him “a distant third” behind Iran and ISIS in terms threats to the region. “If you want to know where to go to at least resolve the bulk of the problems we face,” he told Fox’s Martha MacCallum, “it’s not getting rid of Assad in Syria. It’s getting rid of the ayatollahs in Tehran.”
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana