© DOD, D. Myles Cullen/Released
Journalists, commentators, and national security specialists all seem to agree: the Trump administration is sending confusing, potentially dangerous, mixed messages in the area of America's foreign policy. But are they missing the big picture, not seeing the forest for the tweets?
Sometimes the perceived chaos takes the form of President Donald Trump supposedly "undermining" his cabinet officers' statements — as when he speculates that we may be heading for "a major, major conflict with North Korea" on the same day Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the United States is willing to talk with Pyongyang.
At other times, the head-scratching is based on Trump's own words conveying different emphases in different contexts. On one hand, he says all U.S. options, including the use of force, are on the table against North Korea. But, mindful of his own governing challenges, he also expresses empathy for the young Kim Jong-un's being suddenly thrust into power after his father's death. For Asia hands, the favorite examples of the mixed message meme are his apparent reversals on the "one China" policy and in labeling China as a currency manipulator.
Yet one does not have to ascribe to the 45th president either the complex intricacies of a Machiavellian mind or a Kissingerian strategic global vision to recognize that (a) much of the criticism is somewhat shallow and self-contradictory on its face, and (b) leavened by a superb senior national security team, the president's pragmatic, seemingly erratic style manifests a shrewd transactional approach that actually produces strategic results:
Comment: At best the UN is 'spotty' on calling out atrocities and inhuman behavior and impotent when it comes to enforcement. It picks on countries of a certain size and manipulability, as deemed necessary by the US-Western bloc, thereby exempting anyone the US deems purposeful to ignore.