6 Countries Trump Has Already Insulted And Provoked
Steven Rosenfeld
February 5, 2017 9:53 pm
Two weeks into Donald Trumps belligerent presidency, one must ask: Where will this administrations launch its first serious international conflict?
The White Houses announcement Friday of narrow economic sanctions against Iran, in response to its dumb test firing of a missile, came after Trump made it sound like Iran had done something outsized and horrific. It hadnt. Still, the president tweeted hours before announcing the sanctions, Iran is playing with fire and, They dont appreciate how kind President Obama was to them. Not me!
Diplomats and foreign policy experts see an emerging pattern of needless spats, provocations and threats coming from Trump, and theyve already labeled it. I think we are just facing a normal Trump tantrum, Graham Richardson, a senior cabinet minister in a previous Australian government, told Sky News, in response to Trumps telephone tirade with the prime minister of one of the U.S. most loyal allies. Apparently, Trump hit the roof when he learned that the Obama administration had promised to take 1,250 war refugees stranded offshore in Australiaif they passed U.S. federal immigration review.
But Australias prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, just as Mexicos president did days earlier, covered for Trump, saying, no, the U.S. president didnt hang up on him. Mexicos presidential spokesman said no, Trump didnt threaten a military invasionrather he offered troops to combat crime. This is what seasoned diplomats do, when bulls stampede in the china shop.
None of this is normal, Dan Nexon, a professor at Georgetown University who studies American global strategy, told Vox. Its not just that the president is apparently acting like a petulant bully with these people. Its also that its for no obvious policy purpose.
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