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[–]BEB 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

My job for a long time was to pay attention to world events, especially the Middle East. Trump is not having foreign policy successes in the Middle East. If anything, he is making the situation even more fraught.

[–]fuck_reddit 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I would partially agree. I strongly dislike how quickly he is withdrawing troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. I think everyone has so drank the koolaid on the oil/WMD's in Iraq that no one sees it was Obama's withdrawal that doomed Iraq. In that way, I think Trump is making the same mistake. In terms of Iran and Israel though, I think he is doing very well. Two peace deals with Israel and Arab League countries in a month when none had been made for decades is amazing. Also getting Kosovo (majority muslim) to recognize Jerusalem as the capital is a major shift as well.

[–]BEB 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Obama withdrew under George Jr. Bush's agreement, not his own.

Trump is withdrawing troops AT THE LAST MINUTE because, believe it or not, many disillusioned veterans and anti-war types, including libertarians, voted for Trump as an anti-war candidate, then got disillusioned when he didn't deliver. This is Trump desperately playing to one of his former bases.

Recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel enrages not just the Arab street, but many devout Muslims. There are Muslims in places like Indonesia and Malaysia and India who will not be happy. The population of Pakistan, with its nuclear weapons, will not be happy.

I don't have the time to go further on this argument but I would suggest anyone interested in the Middle East read MondoWeiss and InformationClearinghouse.info to start with. I don't agree with all of it, but at least those sites casts a critical eye on all this.