Musburger1
2,500+ Posts
Qatar - Shortly after Trumps visit to Saudi Arabia, the latter gave Qatar a 24-hour ultimatum and a set of demands. The Saudis proclaimed Qatar a supporter of terrorism, triggered a blockade, and threatened with military intervention. Trump reiterated the Saudi rhetoric and backed the Saudis. It is intuitive that the Trump visit to Saudi Arabia served as a green light for the Saudis to proceed.
The fact of the matter is that Qatar does support terrorists, but then so do the Saudis. In fact, they generally support the same terrorists as evidenced by each country's participation in both Libya and later in Syria via financing both insurrections and actively recruiting jihadists. So what's the real story?
First, Qatar sits on a great supply of natural gas which makes it the wealthiest country in the world per capita and the largest exporter of LNG. The Saudis are hurting financially and would like to simply get their hands on the oil field.
Secondly, Qatar shares the gas field with Iran and has good relations with the Iranians. The Saudis (and the Americans as well as Israelis) fear Iranian strength and want to weaken them.
Erdogan has guaranteed protection for Qatar. Should the Saudis initiate an attack, Turkey's response could trigger a major clash in the Middle East and potentially threaten the world's oil supply if the Iranians get involved and shut down the narrow strait between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Also, the US has a key military base in Qatar. If Trump continues to align with the Saudis, the US must be prepared to relocate the base which would be quite an undertaking.
Bottom line, the Qatar situation has absolutely ZERO to do with terrorism. This is for public consumption. It's about geopolitical realignment and the attempted asset grab.
North Korea - Trump never enunciated a redline, but he came close. North Korea has continued to test missile launches and the US has all but acknowledged that the military option is off the table because the regional destruction would be devastating. The newly elected South Korean President has halted the installment of more US THAAD anti-ballistic missiles much to the chagrin of the US administration. Although China doesn't want a strong North Korea with nukes that could threaten them, they also may prefer the fact that North Korea is strong enough to defer a US attack on their border.
At this point, the only real weapon against North Korea is sanctions. The Chinese can/will only do so much. If North Korea continues to hang tough and further develop their nuclear capabilities, the tough Trump talk back in April only makes the US look weaker.
Eastern Europe - The US continues to conduct large war game exercises via NATO. In response, Russia is responding by continually modernizing its weapons. The US has hundreds of nuclear weapons spread throughout Europe. In my opinion, the combination of NATO provocations with nuclear weapons increases danger for the whole world.
Overall Conclusion. Either Trump has no control over US foreign policy, or he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. At home, the political parties are now corrupt and dysfunctional. The intelligence agencies march to their own beat and clearly oppose Trump. The public believes Islamic terrorism is the number one threat, but in reality, the governing apparatus is mainly concerned with geopolitical scenarios in Asia, the Middle East, and Eurasia. The more the US spends on defense, the more blowback occurs.
The fact of the matter is that Qatar does support terrorists, but then so do the Saudis. In fact, they generally support the same terrorists as evidenced by each country's participation in both Libya and later in Syria via financing both insurrections and actively recruiting jihadists. So what's the real story?
First, Qatar sits on a great supply of natural gas which makes it the wealthiest country in the world per capita and the largest exporter of LNG. The Saudis are hurting financially and would like to simply get their hands on the oil field.
Secondly, Qatar shares the gas field with Iran and has good relations with the Iranians. The Saudis (and the Americans as well as Israelis) fear Iranian strength and want to weaken them.
Erdogan has guaranteed protection for Qatar. Should the Saudis initiate an attack, Turkey's response could trigger a major clash in the Middle East and potentially threaten the world's oil supply if the Iranians get involved and shut down the narrow strait between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Also, the US has a key military base in Qatar. If Trump continues to align with the Saudis, the US must be prepared to relocate the base which would be quite an undertaking.
Bottom line, the Qatar situation has absolutely ZERO to do with terrorism. This is for public consumption. It's about geopolitical realignment and the attempted asset grab.
North Korea - Trump never enunciated a redline, but he came close. North Korea has continued to test missile launches and the US has all but acknowledged that the military option is off the table because the regional destruction would be devastating. The newly elected South Korean President has halted the installment of more US THAAD anti-ballistic missiles much to the chagrin of the US administration. Although China doesn't want a strong North Korea with nukes that could threaten them, they also may prefer the fact that North Korea is strong enough to defer a US attack on their border.
At this point, the only real weapon against North Korea is sanctions. The Chinese can/will only do so much. If North Korea continues to hang tough and further develop their nuclear capabilities, the tough Trump talk back in April only makes the US look weaker.
Eastern Europe - The US continues to conduct large war game exercises via NATO. In response, Russia is responding by continually modernizing its weapons. The US has hundreds of nuclear weapons spread throughout Europe. In my opinion, the combination of NATO provocations with nuclear weapons increases danger for the whole world.
Overall Conclusion. Either Trump has no control over US foreign policy, or he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. At home, the political parties are now corrupt and dysfunctional. The intelligence agencies march to their own beat and clearly oppose Trump. The public believes Islamic terrorism is the number one threat, but in reality, the governing apparatus is mainly concerned with geopolitical scenarios in Asia, the Middle East, and Eurasia. The more the US spends on defense, the more blowback occurs.
