Posted on 07/26/2018 9:19:06 AM PDT by untenured
I have just spent a week in Beijing talking to officials and intellectuals, many of whom are awed by his skill as a strategist and tactician…He [Yafei] worries that strategic competition has become the new normal and says that “trade wars are just the tip of the iceberg”.…In Chinese eyes, Mr Trump’s response is a form of “creative destruction”. He is systematically destroying the existing institutions — from the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement to Nato and the Iran nuclear deal — as a first step towards renegotiating the world order on terms more favourable to Washington. Once the order is destroyed, the Chinese elite believes, Mr Trump will move to stage two: renegotiating America’s relationship with other powers. Because the US is still the most powerful country in the world, it will be able to negotiate with other countries from a position of strength if it deals with them one at a time rather than through multilateral institutions that empower the weak at the expense of the strong…
My interlocutors say that Mr Trump is the US first president for more than 40 years to bash China on three fronts simultaneously: trade, military and ideology. They describe him as a master tactician, focusing on one issue at a time, and extracting as many concessions as he can. They speak of the skillful way Mr Trump has treated President Xi Jinping. “Look at how he handled North Korea,” one says. “He got Xi Jinping to agree to UN sanctions [half a dozen] times, creating an economic stranglehold on the country. China almost turned North Korea into a sworn enemy of the country.” But they also see him as a strategist, willing to declare a truce in each area when there are no more concessions to be had, and then start again with a new front.
That is highly speculative, to say the least. And perhaps you should not be happy if China sees your strategy as strong, since China itself generally does a poor job cultivating allies and also undervalues them. In any case, that is from Mark Leonard at the FT.
Huh?...the Iran nuclear deal is an institution? Me thinks you should learn how to write before you try to tell people what to think!
Trump is like that old boss you had, hard as nails and not easy to please.
But when you did, you were on top of the world for a few days.
You knew what was expected of you. You knew it wasn’t out of line, so you did it.
That’s basically all this is.
Trump says a lot of things for effect. It works.
So... much... WINNING!
The United States will benefit from all this. At the end of the day, so will the rest of the world.
Zero tariffs will help everyone, not just the U. S.
Most of these issues will work out the same way.
As for problems like Iran, when it cleans up it’s house, the whole region will be a better place.
The Trump doctrine seems not only to be MAGA even though that will never expire, but it’s also MWGA. He seeks to have nations respect each other and trade fairly.
Can’t argue with Make the World Great Again either.
Now, if we can just talk the Democrats out of WWIII with Russia, we’ll have made progress.
I agree with you. But I explained my thoughts using poker as an example. Really good poker players don't play the cards. They play the players. The cards aren't even an important part of the game when it comes to success. It's the betting that governs winning or losing. Casual poker players rely on the cards and hope to outdraw someone hand to hand. Pros are playing the long game and will sit there for hours, often only winning in small increments and patiently reading the play and the chip stacks. When the timing is right, you can push other poker players around with impunity.
The most important part of Trump's game is.... Knowing who has what cards and making them play theirs first, just like a good poker player. ;o)
Nice analogy. Thanks.
I agree with the depiction.
In Chinese eyes, Mr Trump’s response is a form of “creative destruction”
It is better known as WINNING!.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.