All American presidents in recent history were the reasons in order to meet with dictators. Franklin Roosevelt divided Europe with Joseph Stalin at the Yalta conference. Richard Nixon traveled to Beijing to meet with Mao. Ronald Reagan took the White house, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (Ferdinand Marcos) and his wife. Many American presidents have met with princes of Saudi Arabia either in Washington or Riyadh.
Contacts are unavoidable, as sometimes the deals are often positioned as an unfortunate but necessary sacrifices for the greater good. During the cold war, the US often supported brutal authoritarian leaders in their fight against the equally violent Communist movements. The reasons why this was done is best expressed by Jeane Kirkpatrick (Jeane Kirkpatrick), who said that authoritarianism is possible to change, but communism is not, because its totalitarian aspirations of the kill Commerce, religion, civil society, and more.
Her point of view was wrong: after 70 years of communism collapsed, and as a policy it has led to tragic results (remember Vietnam). However, even those meetings, which today seem to be the most shameful, at that time was part of a broader strategy. When, for example, Reagan was hosted by Ferdinand Marcos in 1982, he tried to talk about the history of the U.S.-Philippine friendship, “based on shared history and ideals.” Reagan also praised the Philippine Constitution, which embodied “independence, freedom, democracy, justice and equality”.
But if you talk about President Donald trump as private and emphasized the positive comments about dictators, behind them you will not feel any clear plan. In his admiration for those who torture and kill their opponents, does not contain any historical or ethical nuances, there are no references to the theoretical ideals. For example, compare the statements Reagan made in 1982, statements of trump, which he did a few weeks ago when I hosted in Washington, a brutal dictator of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Abdel Fatah al-Sissi). “I want to know if there is any doubt: we support Sisi in the most active way, — said trump. — He did a fantastic job in a very difficult situation.”
CECE was arrested, tens of thousands of people, many of whom were tortured and ended up in jail for committing “crimes” involving the work of independent charities and foundations.
His cruelty is so blatant that, as I have heard, his prison is often called the “factories of the future Islamist fanatics.” His war against his own people increasing instability in the region. However, the rhetoric trump was not only positive but also personal. Trump said that the Egyptian President was “very close to me since our first meeting.”
For CECE, this meeting was extremely important because it contributed to the consolidation of his power in the country, the justification of his violence and strengthening his position. Trump also called the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Recep Tayyip Erdogan), to congratulate him with the victory (probably not quite fair) in the referendum, through which he receives dictatorial powers. Trump also invited to the White house, Duterte Rodrigo (Rodrigo Duterte), the President of the Philippines, who ordered the police without a trial to shoot thousands of people suspected of drug trafficking. The result will be. “You know, he is very popular in the Philippines, said trump. — He has a very high approval rating in the Philippines”.
No one of these lavish praise is not worth a clear strategy. (In some cases, such rhetoric can contribute to the realization of the business interests of the President. Trump has investments in the Philippines and in Turkey, bringing his income, about which nobody knows anything. Duterte has already appointed a business partner of trump in Manila as special envoy to the United States.) Moreover, there is no reason to believe that such a course has deeper diplomatic purposes or is part of smart games. On the contrary, the obvious admiration that trump is experiencing before the strange and cruel leaders such as Kim Jong-UN (Kim Jong Un) — his trump called “slick,” adding that he would be “flattered” by meeting with him — is consistent with his established practice. In the past, he deliberately worked with corrupt and dishonest business partners — for example, he decided to enter into partnership with allies of the Islamic revolutionary guard Corps of Iran in the construction of luxurious and inexplicably vacant building in Azerbaijan. Now he does the same.
Because trump makes every day a great many outrageous statements it’s easy to forget how disastrous is the current change of paradigm and how serious the consequences are. For 70 years the United States helped to maintain peace through a system of alliances based on a common faith in democracy. During the same period, the presidents of the United States supported these alliances, as in the words, and economically and militarily. And the US benefited from such support. Now, when the US President no longer sees the differences between dictators and Democrats, can be expected that the first will strengthen its position and will pursue a more aggressive policy. However, democratic alliances will diminish as peace and prosperity.
It is expected that people will look for moral leadership in other places. During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that took place this week, one Western leader publicly called on him to stop the religious persecution and torture of people based on sexual orientation in Russian prisons. That is the rhetoric we used to hear from the “leader of the free world”. But now we hear it only from the German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Angela Merkel).
