It gets at times pretty scary. What nationalism means, at least to Trump supporters, is we do what is in our interest. Actually, the US foreign policy always has put the country’s interest at its top priority. It’s really the short-sighted policy of Trump when our policy extends to telling other countries what to do or we will try to screw them over big time. I have said about a 100 times, you can’t win a trade war or an arms race, because your enemies will retaliate, a guaranteed lose-lose outcome. Trump’s nationalist policies have shut out international cooperation of other countries in helping solve problems. China could have helped us with to denuclearize North Korea, but not any longer. Most of the time, Trump’s threats are really hot air. At the last minute, he’ll find a reason not to take immediate action, but still leave this lingering idea that other countries are doing really shameful things. Sort of like, you’re bad and we’ll get even later. Very dumb and kind of childish. And he will always, always claim victory. Saber rattling, blaming others and just plain lying are sad ways to run foreign affairs.
Case in point is our Venezuela policy. Obviously, Trump was quick to support opposition leader, Juan Guaido on the wrong assumption that the military would throw their support behind him, Maduro would be history. He attacked the “Biden-Obama” administration for not taking action against Maduro. He did not mention that during the 11 years Hugo Chavez was in power, intent on destroying democratic and civil liberties, and establishing a corrupt system of governance, George Bush could do little to prevent this. Trump claimed his policies worked in Venezuela, as he pressured the Russians to pull out of Venezuela. In March 2019, (about a million Trump tweets ago) Russia responded saying this wasn’t true and they were going to honor their commitments made to Venezuela. See link in below.
Venezuela is a great example of Russia, China and the US each doing what is in their national interest. Russia and China have invested heavily in Venezuela, which underlies their support of Maduro. The US would like to see Maduro gone and restoration of a stability in the country. The recent visit by UN Commissioner on Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet did not make headline news. The Trump administration has cut off all funding for the UN Human Rights Council, calling it a leftist organization. The ultra conservative National Security Adviser, John Bolton, has really lead the way against using the UN to resolve crises.
“The destiny of more than 30 million Venezuelans resides in the will and the ability of its leaders to put the people’s human rights above any personal, political or ideological ambition,” Bachelet said… The UN human rights chief plans to set up an office in Venezuela to monitor the ongoing humanitarian crisis there. Michelle Bachelet said the dire situation must not be allowed to “deteriorate any further.”
There isn’t a quick solution to Venezuela. Bachelet’s visit was definitely a step in the right direction. It says to Maduro to stop lying to its people.
Perhaps, the next great example of misguided nationalism, comes from Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on imported Mexican goods. Of course, it never happened. Trump’s version of events is that he pressure Mexico to take action against illegals entering into Mexico by threatening tariffs. What really happened, is that Mexico offered nothing new, and these “concessions” were made months earlier. See links.
There are a number of great examples how this overblown nationalism theme has failed. I’ll leave the Iran drone episode to another blog, and move on to our constant attacks on Germany. In 2018, Trump took aim at Germany, for their cooperative agreement with Russia to build a second Baltic sea pipeline to supply Germany with natural gas. Germany was, of course, acting in their national interest. Trump understood that liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US to the EU could decline once the pipeline is complete. See my blog: https://newsandviews.net/2018/08/08/pipeline-dollars-to-russia-are-not-acceptable/
Using natural gas to generate energy is better than using coal, The EU needs the Russian gas, is because the existing production from UK and Norwegian gas fields have been declining for years. So, Germany and other EU leaders are doing what is their national interest, and at this point, I guess, will just ignore Trump’s comments.
It’s fine for a politician to proclaim his love for his country. But, any real progress in international affairs must be multi-national, and with this, some of our goals would be compromised. I guess it’s comes down to a choice of achieving some progress with existing international institutions and agreements, or striking out alone, and coming up empty handed.
Stay tuned,
Dave
Links:
Russia scoffs at U.S. demand that it pull troops from Venezuela
US will stop funding UN Human Rights Council
As Trade War Spreads to Mexico, Companies lose a safe harbor
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