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Middle East: Saudis Murder & Dismember Washington Post Contributor

WakeForestRanger said:
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Trump is caught in the middle here. He can't anything bad about Turkey or Erdogan will take all of Trump's holdings in Turkey. Trump can't say anything bad about Assad or Putin for other obvious reasons.

When others own you, honor is impossible.
 
WakeForestRanger said:
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The whole "imagine if Obama did this" exercise got old a long time ago..... but I thinking about it here really makes me want to scream.

 
Yes, if Obama had negotiated with a terrorist organization behind the back of an ally government, he would be roundly criticized.
 
avalon said:
The whole "imagine if Obama did this" exercise got old a long time ago..... but I thinking about it here really makes me want to scream.

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You can't be saying Trump is lying to the public, can you?

That would never happen.
 
PhDeac said:
Yes, if Obama had negotiated with a terrorist organization behind the back of an ally government, he would be roundly criticized.
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Not to mention the agreement to release 5,000 prisoners part.
 
And where he went in front of a mic and complimented the Taliban as great fighters.
 
avalon said:
And where he went in front of a mic and complimented the Taliban as great fighters.
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Well, Trump did have the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as his financial partner for the Trump Tower Baku that fell apart after much of it was built.
 
avalon said:
And where he went in front of a mic and complimented the Taliban as great fighters.
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But that one time Obama bowed to greet a shorter foreign leader and maybe bowed a few inches too low.
 
Whomever the Dem nominee is, if they manage to beat Trump this fall, one of their greatest challenges next year will be rebuilding our credibility, reliability, and influence overseas. Right now it seems pretty obvious that most other national leaders (whether they're our traditional allies or enemies or neutral) regard Trump as a joke, annoyance, clown, dangerous, unreliable, etc. Even people otherwise sympathetic to his views, like Boris Johnson, have been photographed more or less laughing at him when he's not looking. I don't envy the next POTUS in dealing with foreign policy right after Trump.
 
Highland Deac said:
Whomever the Dem nominee is, if they manage to beat Trump this fall, one of their greatest challenges next year will be rebuilding our credibility, reliability, and influence overseas. Right now it seems pretty obvious that most other national leaders (whether they're our traditional allies or enemies or neutral) regard Trump as a joke, annoyance, clown, dangerous, unreliable, etc. Even people otherwise sympathetic to his views, like Boris Johnson, have been photographed more or less laughing at him when he's not looking. I don't envy the next POTUS in dealing with foreign policy right after Trump.
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The problem is that the American people have shown the rest of the globe that they are fully capable of electing a racist xenophobic ignoramus with no respect or appreciation for international law or diplomacy, who will weaponize American foreign policy against domestic political enemies. Further, the American political establishment has shown that it is incapable of reigning in such a person. Even if a reasonable Dem wins in 2020, my bet is that America never regains the level of international trust enjoyed from 1945-2016. I predict that one consequence of the Trump era is that the day when the dollar is no longer world's reserve currency has been greatly accelerated. Nobody wants their country's financial health to be exposed to a guy like Trump holding them hostage through the world financial system.
 
Deacon923 said:
The problem is that the American people have shown the rest of the globe that they are fully capable of electing a racist xenophobic ignoramus with no respect or appreciation for international law or diplomacy, who will weaponize American foreign policy against domestic political enemies. Further, the American political establishment has shown that it is incapable of reigning in such a person. Even if a reasonable Dem wins in 2020, my bet is that America never regains the level of international trust enjoyed from 1945-2016. I predict that one consequence of the Trump era is that the day when the dollar is no longer world's reserve currency has been greatly accelerated. Nobody wants their country's financial health to be exposed to a guy like Trump holding them hostage through the world financial system.
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Yep. Of course other powerful nations are obviously not much more trustworthy.
 
Deacon923 said:
The problem is that the American people have shown the rest of the globe that they are fully capable of electing a racist xenophobic ignoramus with no respect or appreciation for international law or diplomacy, who will weaponize American foreign policy against domestic political enemies. Further, the American political establishment has shown that it is incapable of reigning in such a person. Even if a reasonable Dem wins in 2020, my bet is that America never regains the level of international trust enjoyed from 1945-2016. I predict that one consequence of the Trump era is that the day when the dollar is no longer world's reserve currency has been greatly accelerated. Nobody wants their country's financial health to be exposed to a guy like Trump holding them hostage through the world financial system.
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Unfortunately I suspect you are right, which is why I said I don't envy the POTUS that has to follow Trump. They face a herculean task to try to restore our credibility and prestige, and maybe an impossible one as you said.
 
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