WORLD, FEATURED STORY

America may find itself an island between two oceans – and with no global order in hand. In an era of fragmented and disordered ‘order’, in other words.

The aftermath of the last Putin-Trump meeting in Helsinki, saw top heavy anti-Russian and anti-Putin theatrics, which stand in the way of improved relations.

Iranian “regime change” is not the publicly stated goal of the Trump Administration’s policy. We can hope that Trump will decide on his next steps with regard to Iran based on much broader international considerations that impact his domestic goals.

There was a time when US and Western public opinion could be more easily manipulated and misled by “Red Scares”. Not any more, it seems.

The United States and Israel have been threatening Iran for something like twenty years, using the pretext that it was developing a nuclear weapon initially, but also more recently declaring that Tehran has become a threat to the entire Middle East. Both contentions are essentially lies.

The more criticism Donald Trump gets from the media, the more his supporters rally behind him and that’s a solid base.

Now that the war in Syria is all but over with the Syrian army, backed by Russia, Iran and Hezbollah, rooting out the last jihadist remnants, we are seeing Western states taking in their terror assets.

By meeting Putin, Trump brought the US out of zugzwang, having handed over to the European Union the right to make this same move, which only risks complicating Euro politics – beyond its existing challenges.

Today, it is the United States that is treading down the fateful path that Czar Nikolai, the British in 1914 and the Western Allies in 1939 all followed.

Trump’s only way forward is continuing to be the wrecking ball he was elected to be. Twitter and his ability to change the subject with outrageous and “impermissible” utterances and actions are his main weapons. He also should fire Rosenstein and let the chips fall where they may, James Jatras believes.