Posted on 11/22/2018 9:12:40 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Mr. Trump’s sidestepping of reports that the C.I.A. believes that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing as “Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” was jarring. But every president since Harry Truman has aligned with unsavory Middle Eastern rulers in the service of national interests. The difference here is that Mr. Trump seemed unapologetic about this state of affairs with only a passing nod to the affront to our values that Mr. Khashoggi’s murder represents.
That’s nothing to cheer. But it is vitally important to evaluate the policy on its merits more than its mode of expression. And the truth is that on the big strategic questions, Mr. Trump is cleareyed and right.
...
Mr. Trump’s critics counter with the claim that he is emboldening evil. Samantha Power, former ambassador to the United Nations, cited autocrats like Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Vladimir Putin of Russia, in addition to Prince Mohammed, in saying that “Trump’s siding with the meanest and nastiest out there” will “leave the world even nastier.”
...
Notably absent from Ms. Power’s list of evildoers, however, are Iran and its proxies. The omission is telling. As part of its pivot toward Iran and away from the Sunni states and Israel, the Obama administration turned a blind eye to the slaughter in Syria that Moscow, Tehran and its proxies unleashed, and, thanks to the nuclear deal, delivered countless billions to the Iranian war machine.
His critics would say that Mr. Trump is now similarly emboldening a reckless Saudi regime.
This is a false analogy. The Saudis are not the moral equivalents of Iranians and the Russians.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The Saudis are our allies against Iran, which is a real threat.
Trump is putting the lives of Americans ahead of that of a terrorist synpathizer.
Trump can be rude, crude, sometimes a little bit lewd, but for all that, he is pretty darned shrewd, and that makes up for just about all the other “shortcomings” that people claim to see in his governing style.
Rash and brash? He comes from QUEENS, you haughty people of Manhattan, and probably could not earn even a modicum of respect from you just for that “character defect”.
President Trump looked at the big picture re the Saudi situation and made the right decision. I’m much less concerned with how he announced it.
Trump is doing what reality requires....I can’t help but notice that the CIA “believes he did it” rather than asserting it.....
He was a Muslim killed by Muslims in a Muslim country.
O, please, Fake News Times. It’s not as if he’s sending pallets of unmarked cash to Saudi Arabia.
I wonder how ling these guys are going to have their jobs.
NeoCons happy with Trump following their bad advice.
There Saudis were, are & will be our enemy. They funded 9/11, have funded and are funding Wahhabi Jihadists engaged in genocide against minorities including Christians in Iraq & Syria, and are building mosques and spreading Sharia law to the United States.
NYT? Amazing.
They can never give due credit to Trump without taking a swipe at him, too.
Our Values Represent??? The man was involved with Terror, he was no saint.. his execution while gruesome is no different than Obama ordering drone strikes on US citizens fighting with jihadists.
Two American heroes: Uncle Sam and Uncle Don!
Since when is telling the truth “crude”?
Well-said, NYT. Now you're cooking with gas.
When Obama BOWED and kissed the ring of the Saudi King NO ONE SAID A WORD..when 14 out of the 17 9/11 hijackers murdered 3000+ Americans on 9/11 were Saudi Nationals, no one said a word..but NOW all of a sudden HUGE outrage..if Trump had cut off ties with Saudi Arabia they would be bashing him for that too
OK, China kidnaps the head of Interpol and nobody bats an eye, but some jihadi goathumper goes away everybody loses their mind...
The guy running the show now, Mohammed Bin Salman, was 16 years old on 9/11 and is trying to rein in Wahhabism while reforming other rigid, religiously-mandated rules that has left Saudi Arabia mired in the dark ages. He is not our enemy. With President Trump's support, MBS will bring Saudi Arabia into the modern civilized world and I don't care one whit if he murdered a meddlesome, terrorist-supporting, Muslim Brotherhood Islamist journalist.
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