IdleRich

IdleRich
There was no war
Didn't mention war, the post you replied to was about Trump slobbering all over Putin's genitals again.

It seems like you decided what I was gonna say and were ready to correct it. Unfortunately I said something else which made your response irrelevant but you still just shiat it out anyway.
 

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
Didn't mention war, the post you replied to was about Trump slobbering all over Putin's genitals again.

It seems like you decided what I was gonna say and were ready to correct it. Unfortunately I said something else which made your response irrelevant but you still just shiat it out anyway.
OK boomer

P.S. why are there so many women on this forum?
 

vimothy

yurp
trying to get a grip on trump's influence on foreign policy is not trivial. first you need to reckon with obama, who I think, in addition to recontextualizing us strategy in terms of a "pivot to asia", inadvertently but effectively empowered russia via the iran nuclear deal and Syria. russia became a power broker in the middle east under obama.
 

vimothy

yurp
another counter intuitive aspect is the degree of continuity between trump and the biden admin. for eg hostility to china and the protectionist idea of a "foreign policy for the middle class"
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
another counter intuitive aspect is the degree of continuity between trump and the biden admin. for eg hostility to china and the protectionist idea of a "foreign policy for the middle class"
Hard to imagine American support for Ukraine if Trump were still in charge though, right?
 

vimothy

yurp
yeah I think that's one of the major unanswered questions
saying that, however, I dont think trump is exceptional in that respect. theres a definite strain of opinion is the us that thinks that its either confront russia or confront china, and that russia is Europe's problem whereas china is the bigger threat to the us.
 

vimothy

yurp
on top of this strange continuity along several important axes with both obama and biden, you've also got the abraham accords, which is potentially a genuinely significant piece of diplomacy
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
russia became a power broker in the middle east under obama
but Russia has been a power broker the middle east for most of the post-WWII era, and historically contended with the Ottoman Empire. one of its two imperial backyards is right next door in Central Asia. the anomaly was its inability to project power during the chaotic mess of the post-Soviet 90s. its return to power began under Bush, capped off by Georgian war in 08. you can say it increased under Obama but making it out to be like it just happened on his watch is incorrect.

(not saying Russian imperialism is good - it's not - b4 someone suggests I am, just that you can't pin its resurgence solely on Obama)

I agree more generally that he's not as much of an outlier as it seems, probably in part bc he's bad at actually exercising power and was reigned in by the FP professionals.
 
Top