Posts Tagged ‘failure’
Trump and the Middle East: A long record of personal failure
Many American presidents have blundered in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, but Donald Trump’s personal involvement in the region has been particularly disastrous. President Eisenhower introduced the CIA to the world of covert action, when he ordered the overthrow of the legitimate government of Iran in 1953. President Reagan endorsed a U.S. troop presence in Lebanon in 1982 in order to pull Israeli chestnuts out of the fire there due to their war crimes in Beirut, offering proof to the Arab nations of Washington’s one-sided support for Israel. President George H.W. Bush went ahead with Desert Storm in 1991 although Soviet President Gorbachev had gained a commitment from Saddam Hussein to withdraw his forces from Kuwait. Worst of all, President George W. Bush used phony intelligence to justify an invasion of Iraq in 2003 that has created sixteen years of disarray throughout the region.
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Biden’s Legacy: The Decline of Arms Control and Disarmament
The current discussion is dangerously reminiscent of the nuclear discussion of the 1950s, which was dominated by false notions of a vast Soviet superiority in deployed nuclear ballistic missiles, the so-called “missile gap,” as well as the so-called “bomber gap” regarding strategic aircraft.
The Disappearance of International Law
The United States is devoting insufficient attention and resources to the possibility of bilateral dialogue with potential adversaries that could ameliorate the international horrors that currently exist. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has stated that there are “no barriers” to nuclear negotiations with the United States. There has been no response from the Biden administration. China wants the United States to ease its pressures on Beijing in order to stabilize bilateral relations and to enter discussions of nuclear matters. At this point in time, President Joe Biden is the first U.S. president to avoid travel to China in more than 50 years. Putin is looking for ways to reopen a dialogue with the United States, but Biden believes he has nothing to say to the Russian president.
