Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Is The U.S. Now The Most Unpredictable 'Actor' In The World Today?

Center for Preventive Action / Council on Foreign Relations

Uri Friedman and Annabelle Timsit, The Atlantic: Global Conflicts to Watch in 2018

“The U.S. is now the most unpredictable actor in the world today.”

As conflicts ignite and burn and flicker out around the world, U.S. officials assess the dangers they represent back home. Not all of these conflicts directly threaten American interests, which is why the Council on Foreign Relations conducts an annual survey to help U.S. leaders prioritize threats in the year ahead. For the past decade, this survey has focused on the risks posed to America by foreign actors. Now it’s reckoning with the risks America poses to the world—and to itself.

“The U.S. is now the most unpredictable actor in the world today, and that has caused profound unease,” said Paul Stares, the director of CFR’s Center for Preventive Action, which produces the annual survey. “You used to be able to pretty much put the U.S. to one side and hold it constant, and look at the world and consider where the biggest sources of unpredictability, insecurity are. Now you have to include the U.S. in that. … No one has high confidence how we [Americans] would react in any given situation, given how people assess this president.” This president might welcome the development. “I don’t want people to know exactly what I’m doing—or thinking,” Donald Trump wrote in 2015. “It keeps them off balance.”

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WNU Editor: So among foreign policy experts .... many now see the U.S. (i.e. President Trump) as the most unpredictable actor in the world today. That is quite a mental leap .... when one looks at the multiple wars and conflicts that the U.S. sees itself in the world today  .... wars and conflicts that President Trump inherited.

1 comment:

B.Poster said...

The foreign policy "experts" are the ones who got America into the mess it is currently in. These people have zero credibility left.

"That is quite a mental leap..." I'd say it is more than that. I would say it is pathological insanity. It is a bit like the former (un)intelligence official who likened alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election to the attacks of 9/11. Pathological insanity among these people abounds.

They must be stopped by any and all means necessary!! If it has to be Donald Trump who stops them or if he is the only alternative, so be it.

If the Russians really did intervene in the US election to stop HRC (an unlikely claim that makes no sense), perhaps we should be thanking them. Perhaps we should be giving Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials who are behind this friendship medals for their friendship to the American people. Perhaps Julian Assange should be awarded one as well. Perhaps these people should have statutes and monuments built in the honor. Perhaps their birthdays should be made national holidays and all school children should be taught to revere them as national heroes.

I do NOT believe Russia had any role in swaying the US election nor do I believe they are trustworthy. The same thing applies to Julian Assange. He is NOT a Russian agent nor is his organization a part of Russian efforts nor do I trust him. As such, I would NOT afford these people the honors mentioned above but, If TRUE, (it isn't) then perhaps we should consider such things.