Aaron Kliegman
The US and China are competing for global influence, and Beijing’s pitch to the world is simple: Choose us, and through economic development, we’ll make you rich more efficiently. Plus, the pitch continues, we don’t care what you do inside your own borders; just don’t question what we do either, follow our rules, and we all prosper. This message is appealing to developing countries, which want more money, and non-democratic countries, which don’t want to be bothered about democracy and human rights. But even Western countries can be seduced by Chinese money and talk of major infrastructure projects.
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After four years in the political wilderness, the Democratic establishment is poised to return to power. The men and women who Joe Biden has named to his prospective Cabinet and senior White House staff aren’t exactly fresh faces. Many are alumni of the Obama administration, and most are members of Washington’s political elite — especially those responsible for foreign policy. They’re veterans of Washington’s political games and machinations. Plus, several have intimate, longstanding corporate ties.
The Obama administration was infamously hostile to Israel and acquiescent to Iran. But even during Barack Obama’s presidency, the US and Israel agreed on the state of Iran’s nuclear program. Indeed, Washington and Jerusalem saw the same intelligence and came to similar conclusions about how close Iran was to building nuclear bombs. The much-publicized tensions and disagreements between both sides were over something different: the urgency of the threat.
Emmanuel Macron is right to be upset — and a bit bewildered. Since the French president took a public stand against Islamic extremism early last month, the Western media has portrayed him as an “Islamophobe.” And for what? In a major speech, Macron announced a plan to end “Islamist separatism,” warning that a minority of France’s roughly 6 million Muslims were forming a “counter-society.”
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Any serious effort to combat antisemitism must confront the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) against Israel. Which is why Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement Thursday that the State Department will formally designate BDS as antisemitic is so crucial. “We will immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct and withdraw US government support for such groups,” Pompeo said during a trip to Israel.
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When Joe Biden was vice president, the US had an obsession: establishing friendlier relations with Iran through diplomacy — specifically, a nuclear deal. This obsession dominated the Obama administration’s approach to the Middle East, superseding all other concerns. Biden may try to revive this agenda as president, but he’d be wrong for doing so — as a recent assassination makes clear.
Following what the media’s been saying, you’d think the world was at peace until Donald Trump entered the White House and ruined our global bliss.
Consider how the press is reporting on foreign policy in the wake of the 2020 election. Prominent outlets are proclaiming that friendly foreign leaders are relieved that President Trump appears to have lost the election, that Trump’s “impulsive” policies have made the world a darker and more turbulent place, and that other countries have lost faith in America because of how Trump has alienated allies.
Immediately after Donald Trump assumed the presidency, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) created a “Cloud of Illegitimacy Clock.” This clock tracked how long he believed the president had been violating the Constitution by accepting payments from foreign governments. It’s still ticking on Lieu’s official website.
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Republicans should feel good about the 2020 election. Above all, they can finally exhale now that the GOP looks poised to hold its majority in the US Senate. That means no progressive agenda, even if Joe Biden becomes president. The filibuster survives. No packing the Supreme Court. No statehood for Washington, DC and Puerto Rico (and therefore no new Senate seats). No public option or Medicare for all. No ripping up President Trump’s tax cuts. No Green New Deal.
Hopefully some Democrats stepped away from the mania of the 2020 election over the past week to watch what’s happening in Britain. The latest news from there about the fall of the British Labour Party and its former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, should serve as a warning to Democrats of what happens when a historically center-left party embraces far-left politics.
