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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Pick a Strategy |
| 2017-02-11 |
| ... The last two administrations have not brought victory over Islamic extremism any closer. To avoid defeat from attrition Trump will need a new approach. While none has been officially announced the outlines of a new strategy may be emerging from the actions it has so far taken. Trump may be: 1. Attempting to shrink the radical petrodollar support through increased domestic energy production, something Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would understand; 2. close the West to Wahabism and its emigres via the immigration policy that is proving so controversial; 3. trying to diplomatically neutralize Turkey and Iran and play off India against Pakistan. Such a concept would attack the money and ideology provided by the Saudis, lessen the influence of the Islamic brain trust (the Persians and Turks) and bottle up a potential sources of nuclear weapons (Pakistan). It would also prevent the buildup of a rear area inside the West itself by border control. It's a WW2 or Cold War Era "center of gravity" approach to a problem so far dominated by the "root causes" method. It has the advantage of clarity. Afghanistan, Sudan, Kenya -- even Malmo -- are no longer important if the wellsprings of conspiracy that feed and fund it are stopped up. A center of gravity strategy offers at least theoretically, the prospect of victory, something which "root causes" never proffered. ...The conflict between the old Obama approach and the emerging Trumpian of strategic simplicity is nowhere more marked than in immigration and refugee policy. To liberals open borders are simply "givens" -- the consequence of their world view. To Deplorables open borders represent an instinctive threat which they have not been able to explain within a comprehensive framework in the same way progressives have. But that may soon change. While the Trump administration may not be able to carry out a new successor strategy to replace that of GWB and BHO, it seems well along at raising the essential questions whose answers must form its basis: what is the center of gravity of radical Islamism? Can you fight radical Islam without blowing up the East-West alliance? Is it possible to fight radical Islam without starting a fight to finish with the Left in the West? Trump may not have the answers, but to the discomfiture of all, he will pose all the questions. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #2 To Deplorables open borders represent an instinctive threat which they have not been able to explain within a comprehensive framework "Open Borders" = national suicide. Further explanation of this is unneeded unless & until a commitment to national sovereignty happens. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-02-11 19:44 |
| #1 This is the third different administration in a row with a different strategy. 1) GWB was a proponent of "root causes" strateby which dovetailed with his noblesse oblige, globalist mindset. 2) the old Obama approach which had the hidden of agenda of victorious Islam no matter how radical. See MoBros in Egypt. If Trump can pull this off and defang the snake while having it bite itself that would be a triumph of the first degree. Getting the questions asked in society in a serious way would be a damn good start. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2017-02-11 16:45 |