The War issue
The question always arises as to personality traits of Trump as a person. It started well before the 2016 when -
* amongst his promises to the electorate was one about getting out of war situations all over the world; and
* when he was accused by the DP and by Clinton and the media of being a warmonger.
So lets see what happened subsequently. Trump promised the US electorate he would endeabour to bring home the troops stationed in foreign countries and it effect both the situations in Europe, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
In the case of NATO he insisted that the other NATO members make a bigger financial and also troop contribution to NATO – which would reduce not only the US cost contribution, but also the need for keeping a big army in Europe permanently and reduce the number of deployed soldiers in Europe without reducing the defence capabilities of NATO.
In the case of Korea Trump realized that something needs to be done as to the belligerence of the North Korea regime and see what could be achieved through negotiation. Thus far the effects were limited, but at least the North Korean regime that not set off another nuclear test and has stopped launching of inter-continental missile tests and limited themselves to short range missile tests, There seems to be some scope for further negotiation and although the situation is difficult – the negotiation phase is not over yet.
Iraq and Syria presented another problem for Trump inherited from the Obama Administration. Obama said he draws a red line when it came to usage of gas during the Syrian Civil War and when Syria ignored the threat he did nothing about it, Obama ordered the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and leaving that country in chaos. That caused the emergence of ISIS in Iraq and Syria and ultimately Obama send some US troops to the country, but cut them out of any involvement in actual fighting against ISIS – they were merely there to train Iraqi troops and help them with strategy. Little progress was made under Obama to deal with the ISIS threat and when Trump took over he instructed that the advisor rule be replaced by actual knocking out ISIS and the caliphate disappeared.
As to the latest situation as to Syria the DP and some elements in the RP went ballistic about the real situation in Syria – especially with regard to the Kurds. There are a number of problems here. First of all Turkey is a member of NATO with the second biggest army in that organisation. There were two Kurdish organisations who were many years ago classed as terrorist organisations by the United States themselves. These organisations caused numerous terrorist attacks in Turkey causing hundreds of deaths and that has aroused serious animosity against those terrorist groups amongst the Turks themselves and that led to the fear of the Turks to see a border controlled by the Kurds on the Syrian side. There were no US troops on the border with Turkey itself and it is obvious that Trump do not want to allow elements in the Kurdish community to launch terrorist attacks in Tirkey itself. Aside from the above the following should be borne in mind: –
* The US troops were limited to a 1 000 men guarding ISIS prisoners and when Trump asked the EU countries from where they came from originally to take them back they refused to do so.
* The Civil War in Syria has declined drastically in intensity and the Kurds asked the Syrian army to take over the border area with Turkey themselves, because they do not have the firepower to resist a Turkish attack on them.
* Realizing the complicated situation Trump decided to use economic force and that includes sanctions to reach an agreement with Turkey to allow for the effective withdrawal of the Kurdish militia from the border and stop possible future problems in both Turkey and for the Kurds themselves.
* The scream from the USA DP and some RP elements was hysterical. Because the Syrian Government are allied with Russia – suddenly Trump is allowing the Russians to control the situation in Syria and wider in the ME, Is that real or just political garbage, The Russians have very real problems with Muslim terrorists in ISIS – some of whose leadership and fighters came from Russia and Russians were involved in terrorism in the USA as well – eg the Boston attacks – ignored by the CIA and FBI when the Russians informed them in advance about a potential terrorist attack. Russia has learnt a bitter lesson in Afghanistan and has no ground troops actually fighting in Syria, The Russian story is pure politics for the idiots to fall for.
* The USA should have been out of Afghanistan years ago - they would never be able to solve the problems in Afghanistan ever and to stay there ad infinitum and losing lives in the process is madness.
There are three other nonsensical elements as well in the whole saga:-
* Obama sent very little help in military terms to Ukraine – he sent beds and not rockets and armaments to help them. He rather allowed political crooks to operate freely in Ukraine in the corrupt environment. He also used Ukraine in trying to get the Russian Hoax story going, Trump allowed export of weapons to Ukraine. He delayed the latest delivery because he wanted to get EU countries to assist Ukraine with weaponry as well – but when asked for by Senator Johnson he allowed the further military assistance to take place.
* The scream is that because of the Kurdish issue and what happened in Ukraine the USA is deserting their allies and strengthening the Russians. They said that Trump is emboldening Syria and a threat to Israel.
* The USA did not attack Iran after the attack from Iran on the Saudi oilfields. The DP and there confreres would have already started an non-ending further war against Iran by now. He then entered into the negotiations with the Saudi’s and agreed to sent suitably armed military forces to Saudi Arabia provided they pay the full cost of the operation.
Now there is another issue that should be borne in mind. In the event of life losses in military operations in other countries Bush and Obama sent form letters to families of deceased soldiers to sympathise with them. Trump decided to do what none of his predecessors did – he would phone them and personally express his sympathy with them in the losses they suffer and even invited them to the Whitehouse to talk to them. He also cancelled the debts of wounded soldiers and dealt with their plights humanely in a number of other fields such as covering their medical costs permanently.
In an interview with him he spoke about the pain he sees in the faces of family members when the bodies of slain soldiers are returned to the USA – he seemed to really care about the families and was even emotional about it.
The Russia Issue
Obama and his Whitehouse started a campaign allegedly that Trump was colluding with Russia in the 2016 election campaign and used that story to get at Trump for years. Five investigations wer e held and none of the investigating parties found any proof of such collusion.
One would after 4 years expect that Trump’s co-operation with Russia would have had benefits for the Russians but there was none whatsoever forthcoming. Matter of fact Trump upgrading of the army equipment of the US army and tore up the Nuclear Arms Treaty with Russia – saying that he is prepared to enter into a new treaty on the issue with both Russia and China on condition that all treaty parties adhere to such an agreement.
Trump has been harsher on the Russians than any of his predecessors have been. There may be another twist to the story. There are serious allegations of corruption in relation to dealings with Russia and Ukraine by Obama himself, as well as –
* Clinton;
* Biden and his family;
* the Clintons;
* the Podesta’s;
* the Pelosi family.
as well as some other leading Democrats.
Is fear of potential exposure driving the present impeachment story?