What a glorious idea. The Trumpophobic NYT ignored reality claiming it, referring to the Quebec, Canada G7 summit ending acrimoniously, the US president refusing to sign a concluding statement over trade issues.
Post-WW II, Washington constructed a Western alliance, NATO and the CIA-created EU its core elements, the US wanting dominance over their member states, along with all others.
Trump’s policy with Europe and other allies differs from his predecessors in degree, not kind – more aggressively wanting US allies bending to its will, what his so-called “America First” agenda is all about, serving US privileged interests more one-sidedly than earlier, assuring friction with allies.
It showed in Quebec. Summit talks became a G6+1, America the outlier, his counterparts accusing him of protectionism. He roared turning truth on its head, saying
“(w)e’re the piggy bank that everybody’s robbing.”
Reality is polar opposite. Washington demands other nations play by its rules, US policy throughout the post-WW II era, Trump’s agenda more extreme than his predecessors.
According to the Times, America’s alliance with Western Europe “accomplished great things. It won two world wars in the first half of the 20th century.”
“Then it expanded to include its former enemies and went on to win the Cold War, help spread democracy and build the highest living standards the world has ever known. President Trump is trying to destroy that alliance.”
Fact: Responsible Western policy could have avoided both global wars. Militarists and war-profiteers wanted them waged.
Fact: The Cold War never ended. Anti-Russia hostility is at a fever pitch in America, Britain, and elsewhere in the Western alliance.
Fact: Democracy is an anathema notion in the West. The highest ever standard of living is enjoyed by privileged interests exclusively at the expense of most others – poverty, unemployment, underemployment growth industries in America, Britain and other Western countries.
The Times:
“If a president of the United States were to sketch out a secret, detailed plan to break up the Atlantic alliance, that plan would bear a striking resemblance to Trump’s behavior.”
Fact: Trump doesn’t want the alliance dissolved. He and hardliners infesting his regime want greater than ever control over it. That’s part of what his “America First” agenda is all about.
He hasn’t tried “to create conflict for the sake of it,” as the Times claimed. There’s a method to his madness. He has firm aims in mind. He has no “secret plan to break up the West” – an absurd claim.
True enough his behavior in Quebec was unacceptable. Slamming Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly as “very dishonest” and “indignant” was out of line.
So was leaving the summit in mid-session on Saturday, well in advance of Tuesday talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
He engaged in a Twitter spat with French President Macron over trade issues. No bilateral meeting on the sidelines was held with UK PM Theresa May.
Possible trade war with Europe, Canada, China and other nations would be hugely disruptive if disputes aren’t responsibly settled.
Trump’s bluster, bravado and “America First” agenda define his relations with other world leaders.
The Western alliance is far from fractured. Trump wants it reshaped to serve US interests more than ever. What he can achieve remains very much uncertain.
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Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the CRG, Correspondent of Global Research based in Chicago.
VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
