Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meeting at the Trump Tower in New York, September 25, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Brian Katulis & Yoram Schweitzer, Foreign Policy: Israel Is Growing Increasingly Worried About the Trump Administration
As Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Russia rush to fill the vacuum of leadership in the Middle East, the United States is AWOL.
Israel’s reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Iran speech last month was best summed up by a former senior official we recently met in Tel Aviv: “It sounds very nice, and I like it very much, but what’s next?”
What we heard last month in Israel on Iran was less focused on the fate of the nuclear deal and more concerned about glaring gaps in U.S. strategy to deter Iran’s destabilizing actions and support for terrorist groups in the wider Middle East.
If and how the Trump administration addresses these gaps in its regional strategy will have implications for America’s security and its allies for years to come — and what we heard in Israel is a growing worry that Trump lacks any operable plan at all on Iran.
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WNU Editor: I love reading comments like this one from Foreign Policy when it comes to President Trump's foreign policy in the Middle East ....
.... Making matters worse, Trump and his incoherent foreign policy have alienated America’s partners and shredded U.S. credibility as a trustworthy global leader.
President Obama's fulfilling his pledge to withdraw US military forces from Iraq and his secret talks with Iran on negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran is what "shredded U.S. credibility as a trustworthy leader" with its allies in this part of the world .... not President Trump who only been President for less than 10 months.
As for Israeli concerns on the Trump administration. President Trump was not elected to satisfy Israeli concerns. The U.S. and Israel are strategic allies, but their foreign policies and priorities are sometimes different. In regards to Iran .... both countries have the same view, the difference is on what to do about it.
On a side note .... and that is because I know some of the people who work there .... Foreign Policy has gone 100% anti-Trump. It was bad enough to read analysis and commentaries from people who I respected suffering from Obama derangement syndrome when he was President, but this Trump derangement syndrome has gone to a completely different level. In turn .... for this blog .... covering the debate, analysis, and commentary on U.S. politics has become more and more difficult with each passing month. And sadly .... my prediction from earlier this year still holds ..... it is going to get worse.
