Month: September 2017

Your Middle East Update

For the lack of news coming out of the Middle East one could assume that the war is over and we have moved on to other countries to bully….but that would be erroneous because the fight continues daily……no news because it is not important to the MSM plan for the news.

Iraq and Syria are still bloody….Libya is still in chaos…..Yemenis are still dying at the hands of the Saudi s and with the help of the Americans.

Since the MSM has seen it necessary to keep the American people in the dark about the policies and issues around the Middle East (at least for now)…..

WE have a new president but nothing new as far as policies and direction in the Middle East….

During last year’s presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised to do a great deal more in the Middle East than his immediate predecessors, but with much less. That is, he would achieve significantly more than Barack Obama at a much smaller sacrifice of blood and treasure than was incurred under George W. Bush. This he would accomplish by defining American interests sharply and pursuing them aggressively, not to say ruthlessly. The result would be a global restoration of American credibility and, as Trump never ceased to remind voters, renewed global respect.

As an act of political “signaling,” Trump’s blunt message was savvy. Many Americans, especially those in his base of supporters, regarded Obama as timid, weak, and more solicitous of enemies than of friends; Bush, they believed, had been strong in some ways but prone to quixotic adventures like building democracy in the Middle East, a putative sin of which Obama had at least been innocent. Trump offered an attractive alternative: a hybrid approach that would combine the best qualities of his predecessors in office while jettisoning their worst inclinations. “America First” meant placing a Bush-style readiness to use military force in support of a leaner, Obama-style agenda that nixed democracy promotion. Unlike Bush, Trump would resist thankless nation-building projects; unlike Obama, he would reward friends and punish enemies.

Source: What America Should Do Next in the Middle East » Mosaic

What About Iraq ans ISIS?

With the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate quickly crumbling within Iraq, the Iraqi government, led by its Prime Minister, must look to actions beyond the current kinetic fight to wisely use the victories they have gained against the terrorist group to bring peace and stability to Iraq.  Penned as an unsolicited letter to the Iraqi Prime Minister, the author offers three broad questions to provide strategic guidance as the active, open conventional fight against the Islamic State within Iraq inches closer to its conclusion.

Source: Iraq, the Islamic State, and War Termination | Small Wars Journal

What about Syria?  Any good news there?

Not in the least……

The Trump administration has dramatically increased US military and political involvement in northern Syria, providing air and ground support to local forces camped out in abandoned buildings on the outskirts of Raqqa as they seek to oust ISIS from the capital of its self-declared caliphate.

Under President Donald Trump, the US-led coalition has developed closer coordination with a collection of militias and tribes called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), directing air and ground assaults. Senior State Department and USAID officials have visited Raqqa’s outskirts to coordinate efforts to help displaced civilians and secure the city’s future once ISIS is driven out. US officials have also carved out a semipermanent diplomatic presence close to the northern Syrian city of Kobane.

Source: The US Is Far More Deeply Involved In Syria Than You Know

The Middle East is still the powder keg it has always been…..just with a new president the fuse is a lot shorter….

Closing Thought–18Sep17

How I Learned To Love The Bomb!

Thanx to the situations around the world, mostly from North Korea, there has been lots of talk and even more threats on the use of nukes to settle a dispute…..think about that…..we have enough arsenal to destroy the world a couple of times over….

Has anyone thought that maybe we need to update our policies in the use of these weapons?  No?  Then maybe that time is now.

The saber rattling currently taking place between the White House and North Korea makes clear that it’s time for Congress to close a dangerous loophole, write two op-ed writers in the New York Times. They think it’s outrageous that one person—the president—has the authority to launch a nuclear strike and set off a potentially catastrophic war. Therefore, Congress should amend the War Powers Act to specifically cover preemptive nuclear strikes, write Jeffrey Bader and Jonathan Pollack. For example, the revised rule could require that a small group of people—perhaps the president, the vice president, the defense secretary, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—agree unanimously before things go nuclear.

“This would ensure that the president could not simply provide the codes to his military aide carrying the nuclear ‘football’ and launch such an attack on his own authority,” they write. A similar system is in place in the actual silos where a missile would be launched: A pair of officers must simultaneously activate the launch under a “two-key” principle that guards against rogue actors. Given the stakes involved, it makes sense to apply the principle higher up the chain, note Bader and Pollack: “We should put in place a system of constraints to ensure that a preventive or pre-emptive nuclear strike by the United States must be evaluated through a careful, deliberative process.” (Click to read the full piece.)

Take the power out of the hands of one person….

Guess I need to put my foot up for it feels like someone has built a fire under it….back tomorrow…..chuq

Remembering Sabra And Shatila

35 years a go this month Israel was deep in fighting in Southern Lebanon….and Israel allowed on of the most disgusting tragedies happen…the Massacre nat the Sabra and Shatila Refugee Camps….

I try to remind readers of this disaster…..

Source: Remembering the Sabra-Shatila massacre – Al Jazeera English

Source: Sabra And Shatila–34 Years On – In Saner Thought

There is NO excuse to allow a group to enter a refugee camp a slaughter women and children and the elderly….NO EXCUSE!

And yet we hear of something among these lines yearly…..

Thirty-Five years ago as Israel overran West Beirut, Lebanese Christian militiamen entered the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in West Beirut. Over three days, Israeli forces sealed the camp and allowed them to slaughter several thousand refugees.

I was then a young orthopedic trainee who had resigned from St. Thomas Hospital in London to join a Christian Aid medical team helping those wounded during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon a few months earlier. Beirut was under siege. Water, food, electricity and medicines were blockaded. The invasion left thousands dead and wounded, and made an estimated 100,000 people homeless.

I was seconded to the Palestine Red Crescent Society to take charge of the orthopedic department in Gaza Hospital in the Sabra and Shatila camp in West Beirut. I met Palestinian refugees in their bombed out homes and learned how they became refugees in one of the 12 Palestinian camps in Lebanon. Until then I did not know Palestinians existed.

Source: The forgotten refugees: Survivors of the Sabra and Shatila massacre – Middle East Monitor

Never forgive and never forget!

North Korea: Just In Case You Have Not Had Enough

By now if you have not had your fill of the North Korea situation then you are either a foreign policy nerd or you are deaf…

But just in case you need more to feed the Jones…..

We have heard all about the huge bomb they just exploded…..and of course the results could be horrific…..the problem is that it may have not been as powerful as we were lead to believe…..

In the immediate aftermath of North Korea’s sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3, experts described the blast as six or seven times as powerful as the one that destroyed Hiroshima. That measure might not even come close. According to research site 38 North, the resulting 6.1 magnitude earthquake must have been caused by the release of roughly 250 kilotons, or a quarter megaton, of energy—equivalent to 17 times the strength of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and very near the estimated maximum yield that can be contained at the Punggye-ri underground test site, report the Washington Post and Bloomberg. This assessment tops all others so far: US intelligence said the blast was 140 kilotons, while South Korea said it was 50 kilotons.

Pyongyang says it tested a hydrogen bomb that can be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile, but South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission has been unable to confirm that. Though the commission found the xenon-133 isotope in air samples collected after the nuclear test, other radioactive isotopes normally present during a nuclear explosion weren’t detected, reports the AP. Tritium, traces of which are typically found after a hydrogen bomb is detonated, was one of those noticeably absent. That doesn’t mean the North is misleading the international community, however. The North made changes “to make radioactivity less detectable from a distance” after a 2006 nuclear test sent xenon and krypton isotopes into the atmosphere, the AP notes.

After the test the Us has returned to the call for “fury and fire” against NK….and of course for every Tweet there is an equal yet opposite re-Tweet….

North Korea has made more of the kind of blood-curdling threats that the world found easier to shrug off before Pyongyang stepped up its nuclear program. The “Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee,” North Korea’s state agency for dealing with the outside world, issued a statement Thursday calling for the islands of Japan to be “sunken into the sea” with nuclear bombs and for the US mainland to be reduced to “ashes and darkness,” the Guardian reports. “Japan is no longer needed to exist near us,” said the committee’s statement, which also called for the US to be “beaten to death like a rabid dog” and denounced the United Nations Security Council as a “tool of evil.”

The committee called for the breakup of the Security Council, which imposed its toughest-ever sanctions on North Korea earlier this week. It called the council a “money-bribed” group that does whatever the US asks it to. Before the sanctions vote, which passed the 15-member council unanimously, Pyongyang warned that the US would face the “greatest pain” in its history. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Pyongyang’s threat to sink the country is “extremely provocative and outrageous,” the AP reports. The statement “significantly escalates tension in the region and is absolutely unacceptable,” he said Thursday.

Now that everyone has tried to out-macho the other the calls for a change for the North is required…..yep another round to strategy to deal with NK……

New sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on September 11 in response to North Korea’s latest nuclear test are “not significant enough,” according to R. Nicholas Burns, an Atlantic Council board member who served as undersecretary of state for political affairs in the George W. Bush administration.

Sanctions must be part of a “patient long-term strategy” that includes deterrence, working closely with allies, and negotiations, said Burns, laying out the United States’ options for dealing with the North Korean crisis.

Source: A Strategy for Dealing With North Korea | RealClearDefense

The one thing that the world agrees with is the Li’l Kim has to go…..

The Trump administration has done a laudable job handling the North Korea crisis it inherited. The Obama administration had neglected the gathering North Korean threat under a policy called “strategic patience.” This followed a negotiated “deal” at the end of the Bush years that lifted important sanctions and other pressures that isolated the Kim dynasty, which followed other strategic blunders since the end of the Cold War. President Trump took office facing a nuclear North Korea that had accelerated the tempo of its missile and nuclear development programs and tests, and was close to weaponizing an ICBM. This all happened as the awful human rights conditions of North Koreans worsened, raising questions as to whether the U.S. is really leading a so called “rules-based order” in Asia. Kim Jong-un essentially “governs” a criminal state that oversees a large concentration camp of slave labor.

Source: Kim Jong-un Must Go. It’s Time For A Korean Democratic Unification. | The Weekly Standard

I love this stuff…there are as many opinions as anal cavities…..

There is your update of the positions and words and thoughts on North Korea from last week.

Don’t fret….more will come and we will be back to the same place we are today.

And The was North Korea’s “Week That Was”.

Time To Graduate From The College

This time I am referring to the Electoral College…..time for the country to move past this antiquated system and move on to a more reliable popular vote.

Since I began analyzing politics some 50 years ago I have been opposed to the electoral college….and ever election since those dark days have done nothing to give me confidence in the EC as necessity for this republic.

Now that we have an election, 2018 mid-terms, are quickly approaching maybe it is time for me to once again insert my objections to this archaic system.

My attacks on the EC here on IST began back in 2008, although I had written many articles of condemnation the old fashioned way, by paper…..

Source: Can The Electoral College Be Killed? – In Saner Thought

After the Bush win in 2000 the calls have been getting louder, it is as if the American people are starting to wake up from their idyllic slumber….and it has gotten louder since the Trump win in 2016.

assault on the heels of Donald Trump’s victory last November—the second time in five presidential races the popularly elected candidate lost the election—but it’s not due to any groundswell in Congress for a constitutional amendment to adopt a national popular vote. Instead, the most viable campaign to change how Americans choose their leader is being waged at booze-soaked junkets in luxury hotels around the country and even abroad, as an obscure entity called the Institute for Research on Presidential Elections peddles a controversial idea: that state legislatures can put the popular-vote winner in the White House.

It was mid-February, inside a four-star resort in a third-world country, when I heard the pitch to transform American democracy. The institute flew 11 political journalists to Panama for an “educational seminar” on election reform. (My peers included reporters representing outlets ranging from Breitbart to U.S. News & World Report.) The trip presented a bargain: three days of sunshine, sightseeing, fine dining and free cocktails on the institute’s dime, in exchange for being educated by seminar coordinators in the pool, at the bar, overlooking the Panama Canal—and most aggressively, during the five-hour workshop in a windowless conference room—about the history and weaknesses of the Electoral College, and the potential of a radical alternative.

Source: Is the Electoral College Doomed? – POLITICO Magazine

To be fair if my reader is not well versed of the EC and his not too familiar with its functions then I would like to help out…..

Source: What Do You Know About The Electoral College? – In Saner Thought

Source: The Electoral College Wasn’t Meant to Overturn Elections – In Saner Thought

To be fair….not everybody thinks the EC is a worthless piece of crap……in case you need more info before you choose a side…..

Source: Electoral College: Reasons Not To Abolish – In Saner Thought

Vietnam: Being There (A Review)

As a young man I volunteered for the Army and got two tours in Vietnam…..it was, as they say, a defining moment of my life…because of the time I became interesting in the study of war or as it is known in university Conflict Management…..and as they say the rest is history.

There have been many movies about the war….most of which I did not see…..I just think the Hollywood could not get it right.  There was a TV series, Tour Of Duty, that was pretty accurate…well worth a streaminfg attack if you ever get those.

The many history channels have filed many docs on the war….most of them are great propaganda pieces and not very accurate….although some of the footage is amazing.

Documentary film maker, Ken Burns, has a new project about nthe Vietnam War and all the reviews are great…..

A decade in the making, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary series, The Vietnam War, premieres on PBS Sunday, but it’s already gaining quite the reputation among critics. The 18-hour documentary, told in 10 episodes, digs deep into the conflict, meshing first-person interviews with historical footage. Then it goes beyond since, for many, 1973 didn’t mean the end of suffering. Here’s what the critics are saying:

  • James Poniewozik at the New York Times says it “will break your heart and win your mind.” Given the subject matter, it’s no surprise he found it “wearying.” It’s “probably Mr. Burns’ saddest film,” he writes. But it presents a “staggering” amount of material and powerful oral histories.
  • Some 80 interviewees “offer a glimpse into the psyches of people on all sides of the conflict,” writes Sonia Saraiya at Variety. It can be disorienting, but “disorientation in the midst of multiple national histories and conflicting personal agendas is, in a nutshell, the experience of the Vietnam War.”
  • At CNN, Brian Lowry calls The Vietnam War “a masterpiece” that “humanizes what was often a faceless enemy.” Another strength: its ability to show “the ripples from the war still being felt today.”
  • It may be long, but it’s “worth every single minute of your time,” writes Hank Stuever at the Washington Post, calling it “required viewing.” Not only will you experience “terror, horror, disbelief, discovery, disgust, marvel, pride, ambivalence and tears,” but “you’ll lose count of how many times you’ll have to pick your jaw up off the floor.”
  • Though “very little that’s said feels dangerous, controversial or exposed from our perspective,” The Vietnam War is remarkable, beautiful, repetitive, frustrating, assaulting, and “nightmarish”—and “it’s impossible to look away,” writes Daniel Fienberg at the Hollywood Reporter.
  • Adds Ed Siegel at the ARTery, “It’s not easy and it’s certainly not fun, but Ken Burns and Lynn Novick know how to make history dramatic, how to make television riveting, and how to tell the country’s story in a way that really defines what American exceptionalism is all about.”

I will watch it but will wait until I can buy the series for I can only take small portions before a memory gets kicked up.

I apologize for two days of not so interesting posts….it has been a bad couple of days….as compensation I offer up some great tunes from the Vietnam Era….

Time to back out gracefully and enjoy some down time….see guys Monday….chuq

Weekend Thought–16Sep17

Is it just me or is the news so damn boring that it has become monotonous?

It is redundant to a fault.

Every day it is the same….North Korea…..Congressional investigation….Dems doing something to crap on the Repubs…..as far as international relations goes it is North Korea with a smattering of China.

Maybe it is just me…after all I am nursing broke foot that leaves me lots of time to read or watch the news…..since I could care less about celebs….I really do not care about Beyonce and her kids….or the Kardashian clusterfuck…..what some skinny white girl has done to her hair…..on and on…..

The storms made the news a little more interesting but once they hit land they became just an endless string of stupid questions to fill the news block….questions like…you are in Key Largo, what do you see?  A hurricane just went through what do you think they see?

Politics is just as boring…..Dems scheming….GOP pouting…..and Trump pulling a string or two to keep everyone on their toes…..

I heard a weather person tell the nation that the temp in Florida would be 105 and the humidity up around 100%……he stated that it was going to be dangerously hot and that everyone should stay cool top avoid problems……think about that for a moment….there is little power in the state and it is after a hurricane….where will the people find this coolness?

It is getting to be a chore to find stuff to post…..I do not do mundane and that is all this is in the news these days.

Thanx for letting me vent a bit…..I am sure it is not over yet.  Stay tuned!

I would like to say to all IST friends in Florida…..our prayers are with you….stay strong….stay safe…..be well…..chuq

Deal Or No Deal?

Many Americans are applauding the new found cooperation between a GOP president and the Congressional Dems……but since the “good news” was release there has been a wealth of back and forth……

It is confusing…..so do we have a deal?  Or Not?

The Congressional Dems seem to think that there is a deal….

In a move that stunned many Republicans, Democratic leaders announced Wednesday night that they had reached a deal with President Trump to protect Dreamers from deportation in return for funding extra border security—but not a wall. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced the deal after a White House dinner, the AP reports. “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides,” they said in a joint statement. A source says the deal also includes a pathway to citizenship for the almost 800,000 young immigrants involved.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that DACA and border security were discussed at the meeting, though “excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,” the Los Angeles Times reports. This is the second time in two weeks that Trump has bypassed Republicans to cut a deal with Democrats and immigration hardliners are furious over what they see as an amnesty, the Washington Post reports. If reports of the deal are true, Trump’s “base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair,” said GOP Rep. Steve King. “No promise is credible.” Breitbart.com called the deal a “full-fledged cave” and dubbed the president “Amnesty Don.”

The with a flick of the thumbs Pres. Trump is saying that there is NO deal…..

Thursday morning brings a dose of confusion to the debate over the fate of young undocumented immigrants. President Trump tweeted that he and top Democrats had not reached a deal about the fate of the Dreamers, despite Democrats’ assertion Wednesday night to the contrary. “No deal was made last night on DACA,” the president wrote, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. “Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent.” All this began when Democrats including Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer had a dinner meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday, and Democrats emerged afterward to declare that they’d struck a deal to “enshrine the protections of DACA into law.” In exchange, they’d agree to a number of border security improvements—excluding the president’s proposed border wall.

Almost immediately, the White House pushed back on that characterization, with press chief Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeting that no deal to exclude the border wall was struck, reports the New York Times. Trump reiterated that in his tweet, adding that the wall “will continue to be built.” (He didn’t, however, address whether funding would be linked to DACA.) But the president also expressed support for Dreamers and suggested that he wanted a deal that would provide some kind of pathway to citizenship for them. “Does anybody really want to throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military? Really!” hewrote. “They have been in our country for many years through no fault of their own – brought in by parents at young age.”

I for one am pleased to see some small incident of cooperation between the two parties……but with all my cheer leading…… is there a Deal or Not?

How long will this “cooperation” last?

Across The Aisle

For decades I have watched the two parties snipe at each other from the bushes….matters not who is president or which party holds the leads of the power wagon.

Since 2008 when Obama was elected president then the label of liberal has been a bad thing and been used to attack anything that is purposed.  The GOP had a plethora of slogans for anything the liberals had to offer and it has been successful…..and then the country elected Donald Trump as president…..a Repub a member of the GOP (?) plus the GOP controls both Houses of Congress and a majority on the Supreme court….so with all that power in their hands then the bills and legislation should be flying off the pens of reps and onto Trump’s desk for approval.

You would think……but nope the GOP has not been able to accomplish a thing legislatively.  plus Trump and McConnell and Ryan do not seem to be on the same conservative page…..and that has a impotent party in control.

Recently the GOP “repeal and replace” hit the manure heap…..could not find the support for a bill.  But they still have DACA, Russia, taxes, border wall, etc…..lots of issues with little support from the party in power.

With failures mounting up Trump decided to go to the Dems for some help……and found them eager to work on a compromise…..

President Trump ticked off Republican lawmakers Wednesday (last week) when he struck a surprise deal with Democrats. Now, it looks like the across-the-aisle deal-making is poised to continue. The Washington Post reports that Trump, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi have reached a “gentleman’s agreement” to explore the idea of permanently eliminating the need for Congress to approve increases in the debt ceiling. More on that and the suddenly warm relations between the president and top Democrats:

  • Rosy press:Politico reports that Trump seems thrilled with the generally positive media coverage of his outreach to Schumer and Pelosi, and he spoke to both by phone Thursday. “In the eyes of Trump, news coverage often matters more than almost anything else,” writes Josh Dawsey, which could bode well for future deals.
  • ‘Schumer Test’: “It goes something like this,” explains NPR. “If you’re a Republican and Chuck Schumer is happy, then it’s likely not a good day.” Well, Schumer, is “beaming,” and that has Republicans leery. Trump’s cozy reference to “Chuck and Nancy” didn’t help.
  • The irony: Mike Allen at Axios sees Wednesday’s development as a “seminal moment” for GOP leaders in Congress, who watched in person as Trump derailed their strategy. “It’s now possible that Trump’s biggest legislative wins this year will be more spending and raising the debt cap—the exact opposite of what Tea Party Republicans came to DC to do.”
  • The debt limit idea: Congress routinely needs to raise the debt limit, which puts a cap on how much the government can borrow, to pay the nation’s bills. The problem is these votes “are often politicized and can cause panic among investors,” explains the Post. Trump himself suggested, “Has anybody ever thought about eliminating this vote?” recounts Pelosi, per the Hill. “And we said we’ll take it back to our caucus.” A report at Politico says Schumer was the one to broach the idea with the president, who responded, “Let’s do it.”
  • Nope: House speaker Paul Ryan threw cold water on the idea Thursday. “I won’t get into a private conversation that we had,” he said, referring to the president. “But I think there is a legitimate role for the power of the purse and Article 1 powers, and that’s something we need to defend here in Congress.” That article of the Constitution essentially gives Congress control over the US purse strings. Meanwhile, House conservatives objected even to Wednesday’s short-term deal in a letter to Ryan.

The deal seems to be popular….at least in the polls….the country liked the idea of a compromise and the working of two entities for a success.

It must have been overwhelming because Trump has decided to bring the two Dem leaders to the White House for a dinner and a meeting…..

In a move that stunned many Republicans, Democratic leaders announced Wednesday night that they had reached a deal with President Trump to protect Dreamers from deportation in return for funding extra border security—but not a wall. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced the deal after a White House dinner, the AP reports. “We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that’s acceptable to both sides,” they said in a joint statement. A source says the deal also includes a pathway to citizenship for the almost 800,000 young immigrants involved.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that DACA and border security were discussed at the meeting, though “excluding the wall was certainly not agreed to,” the Los Angeles Times reports. This is the second time in two weeks that Trump has bypassed Republicans to cut a deal with Democrats and immigration hardliners are furious over what they see as an amnesty, the Washington Post reports. If reports of the deal are true, Trump’s “base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair,” said GOP Rep. Steve King. “No promise is credible.” Breitbart.com called the deal a “full-fledged cave” and dubbed the president “Amnesty Don.”

After 8 months of nothing to show for his time in office the president now has two wins if we may call them that……

Maybe now all those diehard Trump supporters should lighten up on liberals….apparently they are willing to work with him where as his own party is shunning him at every move.

I believe we now have a good grasp on which party is the obstructionist party.

Could this be a temporary situation?  Sure.  But take the wins while you can.

An America First Foreign Policy

In the beginning of the 2016 election we had a new (well not so new) slogan for the voter to deal with…..America First.

Donald Trump promised to “make America Great Again”….which is something all Americans love to hear…the problem for me was I did not see how we were not already “great”.

“America First” was a promised during th1940’s to keep the US out of another European war……an isolationist position to be sure.

This is a good look at the America First promise…..it is from the Libertarian Future Of Freedom Foundation

In his inaugural address, Donald Trump stated, “From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first, America first.” Trump apparently first used his catchphrase in a March 2016 interview with the New York Times in the context of foreign policy. The interviewer suggested that Trump was taking something of an “‘America First’ kind of approach, a mistrust of many foreigners, both our adversaries and some of our Continue Reading

Source: An America First Foreign Policy – The Future of Freedom Foundation

I like the idea to staying out of all these minor wars but I also think the days of isolationism are long gone.

WE will have to wait a few more years to see just where Trump’s America First will take the country.