Paul Robinson — The Peace President – and more links

There was a time when going to war was seen as a measure to be taken only in extremis. Unfortunately, lacking serious military competitors following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western powers decided to use the ‘unipolar moment’ to flex their muscles, with the result that they got mired in a series of apparently never-ending wars. Instead of discrediting the idea of war, these had the opposite effect – they habituated the political classes to it, so that now waging war has become normal and making peace is seen as ‘scary’. Conventional judgements about the national interest, international law, and the ethics of war have been turned on their head.

There’s not much to like about Trump, but the one (actually very significant) thing in his favour is that he professes a desire to put a stop to all this. It would be wrong to say that Trump has been a ‘peace president’. He has, after all, continued American involvement in wars such as that in Yemen. But, to date he has yet to start a new one. This is actually quite remarkable. Barack Obama launched a war against Libya and got American involved in the wars in Yemen and Syria. His predecessor, George W. Bush, invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Before Bush, Bill Clinton bombed Yugoslavia, and before him George H.W. Bush fought the first Gulf War. And of course, Bush Senior’s predecessor Ronald Reagan invaded Panama and Grenada. One has go to back 40 years to Jimmy Carter to find a president who didn’t start a war. So, despite what I said above, by American standards Trump is indeed a peace president and, if he keeps it up, far more deserving of a Nobel Peace Prize than Obama ever was. The fact that so many find this worrisome indicates that something has gone seriously wrong not only with our understanding of the world but also with our moral compass.

Maybe Jimmy Carter didn't start a war, but he followed Zbigniew Brzezinski's advice and sent jihadist under Osama bin Laden into Afghanistan to counter USSR influence there. Those jihadists morphed into Al Qaeda. So it is necessary to go back to Gerald Ford, under whom the US withdrew from Vietnam. He also signed the Helsinki Accord, increasing detente during the Cold War. Since Ford, it's been one war of choice after another without learning anything.

Irrussianality
The Peace President
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

But don't rejoice over the departure of James Mattis just yet. What comes after may be worse, even much worse.

See

Mint Press News
Both Leading Candidates to Replace Mattis are Maximum War Hawks

Whitney Webb

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We may – finally – be reaching the point at which we discover which is stronger: the elected president or the war party.

So, either more of the same or a real change; I hate to use the bromide of the phoney expert, but time will tell. The struggle is on.

Russia Observer
SYRIA, AFGHANISTAN AND MATTIS
Patrick Armstrong

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ISIS is about to be eliminated by the Syrian Army now that the US is out of the way.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
The shape of things to come - TTG

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Sic Semper Tyrannis
I suggest Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for SECDEF
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.)
At the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lang was the Defense Intelligence Officer (DIO) for the Middle East, South Asia and counter-terrorism, and later, the first Director of the Defense Humint Service. At the DIA, he was a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service. He participated in the drafting of National Intelligence Estimates. From 1992 to 1994, all the U.S. military attachés worldwide reported to him. During that period, he also briefed President George H. W. Bush at the White House, as he had during Operation Desert Storm.

He was also the head of intelligence analysis for the Middle East for seven or eight years at that institution. He was the head of all the Middle East and South Asia analysis in DIA for counter-terrorism for seven years. For his service in the DIA, Lang received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive. — Wikipedia

See also

Sputnik International
Ex-Diplomat: US Elites Alarmed That Trump May Accomplish Promised Foreign Policy