The Free Press
“We seek the end of tyranny in our world. Some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism. In reality, the future security of America depends on it.” That was George W. Bush in his 2006 State of the Union.
Here was Donald Trump yesterday in Riyadh: “The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called ‘nation-builders,’ ‘neocons,’ or ‘liberal nonprofits.’ Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought about by the people of the region themselves.”
It’s astonishing what a difference 20 years has made.
Amid the huge news out of the Middle East over the past 48 hours—the release of Israeli hostage Edan Alexander; a $142 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia; the first trip by a U.S. president to Qatar; a meeting with Syria’s new president—what’s been overlooked is the speech delivered by Trump to rapturous applause in Riyadh.
It is likely the most consequential speech of his presidency.
Gone is talk about democracy, freedom, and interventionism. In: deals, deals, deals.
According to Batya Ungar-Sargon, “Trump’s speech was a rejection of the idea, shared by Obama and Bush, that Western-style liberal democracy is essential to human flourishing in the Middle East.” Trump’s approach isn’t isolationism, she argues, but rather a foreign policy built on an appreciation of the world as it actually is—not as Western liberals wish it to be.
Eli Lake says the president’s new strategy amounts to a Serenity Prayer for the most geopolitically fraught part of the world. And while he might be right about some past foreign policy mistakes, is his hands-off approach really in America’s best interests?
This has been a huge week for news out of the Middle East.
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" but rather a foreign policy built on an appreciation of the world as it actually is—not as Western liberals wish it to be."
And how is foreign policy doing on that side of the globe? I'm wondering if we should separate "ideals" and "deals" from one another.
It looks like President Trump is a votary of Real Politik. Henry Kissinger wrote a great book on that, titled Diplomacy.
Real Politik is good when it serves its practitioner’s country. It’s bad if it hurts the country’s interests.
In other words it’s amoral.
But if skillfully handled it can be richly rewarded without firing a single shot.