TRUMP AGENDA - Iran Nuclear Deal

Increased U.S. world political isolation.

"How Iran might respond to U.S. withdrawing from the nuclear deal" PBS NewsHour 5/8/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  From nuclear deal to no deal, President Trump on Tuesday made good on his vow to get out of the 2015 agreement with Iran -- his predecessor’s signature foreign policy achievement.  Nick Schifrin looks back at Trump’s determination to derail the deal, and then joins William Brangham to discuss what happens in Iran now.

"Trump’s Iran deal announcement leaves ‘America alone,’ Sen. Kaine says" PBS NewsHour 5/8/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Trump's announcement that the U.S. is leaving the Iran nuclear deal is going to raise the risk of unnecessary war in the Middle East, says Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va).  A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kaine also tells William Brangham that the decision has driven a wedge between the U.S. and European allies, and makes the U.S. weaker.

"Ehud Barak: Iran nuclear deal is bad, but Trump’s withdrawal not ‘optimal’" PBS NewsHour 5/8/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Donald Trump made good on his campaign promise Tuesday with the announcement that the U.S. would leave the Iran nuclear agreement.  But America’s exit does not cancel the deal altogether, Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Defense Minister and Prime Minister, told PBS NewsHour correspondent William Brangham.

Barak said he thought the 2015 agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was “ a bad deal when it was made” — something Trump also said as he signed a memorandum terminating U.S. participation in the Iran agreement.

“But once it was signed it became a matter of fact,” Barak said, adding that he wasn’t sure Trump’s decision was the best way to make changes to the agreement, and that he believed the deal's six other signatories would stay in the pact.

Here are some other highlights from the interview, tied to the release of Barak's 2018 memoir, “My Country, My Life: Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace.”

William Brangham (NewsHour):  The other thing that really comes through in your book is that Israel continues and must find some resolution to how it deals with the Palestinians.

As you well know, the government in Israel has very much right now a fortress Israel position.  Do you have any sense of hope that the resolution with the Palestinians will come?

Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister:  Yes, of course.  I have not just hope.  I’m quite confident it will happen.

The government of Israel, it’s a freely elected government.  It’s my government as well.  But I did dispute with them about what is good for the country, especially in the last three years, with Bibi more and more deeply diving into this mind-set of extreme pessimism, passivity, anxiety and self-victimizing mood, which is a quite good recipe for practical domestic politics, but very poor one for statesmanship.

I think that we are heading — beyond these daily events, we are heading into a direction which is clearly wrong.  The intention of this government, led and directed by extreme right, is to torpedo any possibility of separation or disengagement between us and the Palestinians.

This leads us basically into one state named Israel covering or reigning over the whole area from the Mediterranean to the River Jordan.  But that means, because we are 13 million people there, 6.5 million Jews and 6.5 million Arabs.

William Brangham :  Yes, the demographics are not in your favor.

Ehud Barak:  It means — yes, it means that it will end inevitably either non-Jewish or non-democratic.  Neither is
(INAUDIBLE).

And based on our successes, we — you know, founding of the state of Israel is the most successful national project of the 20th century.  We have a huge amount of achievements.

But, based on these achievements, we are the strongest country, and we can take our fate in our hands.  I am not caring about the Palestinians.  I am caring about our own identity, future, and security.

And our interests demand that we will disengage from the Palestinians, delineate a line within which we will have all our security interests, most of the settlers, and a solid Jewish majority for generations to come.

I always follow — I used to quote Robert Frost saying good fences make good neighbors.  And we need it in the Middle East.  Never lose the focus on the objective and on understanding.  Whether it takes time, more or less time, we will ultimately reach a normal situation in the Middle East.

TRUMP AGENDA - Consequences of 'America First'

"What limiting foreign trade would mean for the U.S. economy" PBS NewsHour 11/16/2017

My answer, Make America Economic Looser.

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Donald Trump ran on a campaign promise that he would “put America first” by pulling out of multilateral trade agreements.  But for many top industries, outsourcing in the global market is essential for business, not to mention vital to Americans’ standard of living.  Is it feasible in the 21st century for America to go it alone?  Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

TRUMP AGENDA - March Toward Isolationism

"How Trump's travel ban changed and what comes next" PBS NewsHour 9/25/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The Supreme Court is dropping scheduled oral arguments over President Trump's controversial travel ban, a day after the White House announced a revised travel ban that added Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela to the list of restricted countries.  Judy Woodruff is joined by Yeganeh Torbati of Reuters to discuss what that means for legal challenges to the ban.

U.S. POLICY - Dangers of Isolationism

NOTE:  It was the isolation of the 1940's that tried to keep out of the war in Europe (aka WWII) that lead to being forced into the war with the bombing of Perl Harbor.

"Dangers of isolationism, Syria top Obama's last UN address" PBS NewsHour 9/20/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  President Obama gave his final speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.  He spoke about the “growing contest” between authoritarianism and democracy in the face of terror and the refugee crisis.  He appealed to the world to do more for the millions fleeing war-torn countries and joined other leaders calling for a stop to the fighting in Syria.  Judy Woodruff reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  For the President today, a moment on the world stage at the United Nations one last time, his message no less than an urgent plea to make a better world.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  At this moment, we all face a choice.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  It was his final address to the U.N. General Assembly, and President Obama used it to issue a challenge.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  We can choose to press forward with a better model of cooperation and integration, or we can retreat into a world sharply divided and ultimately in conflict along age-old lines of nation and tribe and race and religion.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The President spoke of a growing contest between authoritarian rule and liberalism, and of people losing faith in the face of terrorism and the refugee crises.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  Given the difficulty in forging true democracy in the face of these pressures, it's no surprise that some argue the future favors the strong man, a top-down model, rather than strong democratic institutions.  But I believe this thinking is wrong.  I believe the road of true democracy remains the better path.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Mr. Obama appealed to the world to do more for the millions fleeing war-torn countries.  And he warned against the politics of Donald Trump, without mentioning the Republican nominee by name.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  The world is too small for us to simply be able to build a wall and prevent it from affecting our own societies.

MAN:  The prime minister of the United Kingdom.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Newly named British Prime Minister Theresa May, making her first address at the U.N. after her country's vote to leave the European Union, said Brexit was not a signal that Britain was retreating from its global responsibilities.

THERESA MAY, Prime Minister, United Kingdom:  They didn't vote to turn inward or walk away from any of our partners in the world.  Faced with challenges like migration, they demanded a politics that is more in touch with their concerns and bold action to address them.  But that action must be more global, not less.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  But for many leaders, Syria topped the agenda.  President Obama aimed strong criticism at the Syrians' main ally, Russia, for its aggressive moves there and in Ukraine.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  In a world that left the age of empire behind, we see Russia attempting to recover lost glory through force.  It may fuel nationalist fervor for a time, but, over time, it's also going to diminish its stature and make its borders less secure.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also forcefully denounced the Syrian regime, and its main backer, in his last address to the General Assembly.

FULL SPEECH (48:36):