Responses to Facebook chats.
I AM endlessly baffled how America (or this side of the eerie divide) has turned Donald Trump into a convenient excuse for anything bad or flawed about this country. He knew he can't really rewrite the traditional hawkish Washington foreign policy playbook or cut Israel Lobby's influence per arms aid to Israel since its birth in 1948 (Barack Obama even spiked the $3 billion annual military aid with the 10-year $38 billion add in 2016). But he is trying mighty hard.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump isn't a dumb entrepreneur not to know that he can't battle China per manufacturing or trade after Bill Clinton struck a deal with China in 2000 that paved the way for Beijing to enter the WTO and in a few years, and gained massive leverage globally. Add AIIB and the 5 state owned banks that waylaid the IMF, the BRICS hookup vs G7, and the more recent RCEP trade bloc. But he has to please his voters and so he shows some MAGA moves to bring US factories back. Not gonna happen due to the obvious. These companies may even expand to India and Indonesia, BRICS partners.
Sure, he will attract some FDIs, why not. Early takers: Hyundai, TSMC and SoftBank. U.S. titans Ford or GM can build more factories here, sure--but without closing their plants in China (or Mexico). Trump can sweeten the deal with incentives etc etcetera. At least he isn't daring the CCP to a silly military quarrel in the South China Sea via Taiwan that Joe Biden/Antony Blinken failed to provoke (as they did with Vlad, yet tell me who won in Ukraine). 🏛🗽🏛
I DON”T know how'd the US and Europe (or America's trade pact with Canada and Mexico) be able to stop China's expansionism or BRICS's challenge of G7. Sure, the war in the Middle East helps them contain the region as China sank massive FDIs in MENA. (Nope, they ignore the warnings of the Arab Spring.) Take note: As Biden employed Washington's military brinkmanship, Egypt, UAE and Iran joined BRICS and of course just 2 weeks after Nov 2020, China gathered 14 economies in Asia Pacific to form RCEP. Biden tried to drag Taiwan vs China but these two Chinas are now top trade partners. Refer to Foxconn and TSMC's supply of silicon.
Meanwhile, in Europe, they haven't yet really recovered from the debt crisis when Covid hit. And then as EU's chief Angela Merkel ended her leadership of the region, her successor Scholz wasted no time in heeding Biden's call to aid Ukraine in its war with Russia. Not thinking that the EU's economy is super dependent on Russia's oil and natural gas.
The region's economy is still at negative 1 percent. Angela Merkel played her cards well with China and Russia although the rest of the biggies such as UK and France stayed wrestling internally. British leadership was an eerie succession of failures since Theresa May; France is hobbling. The current leadership has a shaky partnership with Emmanuel Macron and no matter how they isolate Marine Le Pen, her populist Right minions are still loud. Yet the West insists on wars or hawkishness. And continues to demonize Trump; Trump hasn't even flexed his anti-NATO swagger yet. 🏛🗽🏛
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