By Philip Yeung
Trump is prosecuting the Iran war the way he runs his casino or Trump University—without a clear entry purpose, and a smart exit strategy.
Typically, Trump doesn't think through the process or the purpose. He flip-flops and blusters his way around. Like an out-of-control roller-coaster, he talks one way and acts another. He is destined for utter disaster.
Netanyahu, Trump's co-criminal, is telling the world that they are fighting the war for our sake, to neutralize Iran's nuclear threat. But nobody is buying the lie. The world only knows that it is paying for unaffordable energy because of an unnecessary, unprovoked war.
For the first time, America is fighting a war without allies except Israel. Trump's lies are exposed for all to see. He has zero credibility. Iran, whose supreme leader was taken out by US bombs in the midst of talks with Trump representatives, is no longer interested in a negotiated settlement. It has rejected America's terms for ending the war. Talks may well be Trump's way of buying himself time.
With Trump, words have no meaning. He brags that America is winning the war and ending it, while he sends two thousand US ground troops to the war zone. There is no rhyme or reason to his utterances.
Trump's lunacy has cost the US dearly. In a recent poll, 57% of Canadians now trust China more than America. In Britain, 42% of the people do. In Germany, that number stands at 40%. The geopolitical landscape has shifted, reshaped beyond recognition.
And yet, the neutered US Congress sits idle as its unhinged president runs amok, free to wage war wherever and whenever he wants.
The America we see is no longer the America we used to know. Likewise, the China that used to worry the world is now a different country. America the hideous sinner is turning China into a likable saint. Despite its communist label, China is now the epitome of rationality in governance---super-successful in long-term planning and laser-focused on technology and progress. It is high time for the tone-deaf and blindfolded Western press to remove their blinkers and recognize the new reality and stop peddling the hollow China threat fiction. To quote a famous Chinese proverb, China only cares to shovel the snow off its own doorsteps, it couldn't care less about removing the sleet on other peoples' rooftops. China is now the only major power reaping the peace dividends.
This mind-your-own-business mentality has served China well. It's the only country that has utterly reinvented itself in history, giving its people affordability, education, technology and inter-ethnic harmony. As an economic miracle, it is in a category all by itself.
It takes Trump's madness to showcase China's sanity. To Trump, everything is about money. He demands five trillion dollars from his deep-pocketed Middle Eastern allies to continue fighting the war and half as much for ending it soon—for a war he started without consultation or justification.
Trump is America's curse, but is unfortunately inflicting itself on the rest of the world. This deranged man in the White House has totally discredited democracy as a governance model: starting wars without Congressional approval, imposing tariffs against global trading rules, with enforcement officers illegally killing US citizens. One man's whims have replaced the law, including international law.
Trump doesn't know why he started the war, or how or when he will end it. He doesn't know who he is fighting either, having underestimated his enemy. This is a lunatic's war, a bully's war, without calculating the costs or charting the course.
The war is not yet over, but America is looking like a loser on the economic, diplomatic and military fronts. The myth of US invincibility has been exposed. Like his casino, Trump gambled big and is losing his shirt. This time there are no bankruptcy laws for him to hide behind. Only the wrath of voters lurking around for the mid-terms to end his lunacy and our misery.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | Reading Trump like an open book
Opinion | Wars, more wars, endless wars
Opinion | Democracy is broken—America's fall from greatness into the gutter
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