PBS News Hour
Micah Zenko, Foreign Policy: The Crisis Manager’s Cheat Sheet for 2017
It’s time to start setting priorities for the coming year of war and conflict.
Speaking recently before a military-friendly audience in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Donald Trump indicated his intent to pursue a more constrained foreign policy in 2017 and beyond. “We’re all over the place fighting in areas that we shouldn’t be fighting in,” he decried. “This destructive cycle of intervention and chaos must finally come to an end.” Echoing noninterference perspectives more often heard in Beijing and Moscow, the president-elect further declared that “respect for mutual sovereignty helps form the basis of trust and understanding.”
Trump may aspire for a reduced U.S. global role, but international crises will emerge in the next year that test his rhetorical doctrine of restraint. To help the his administration prioritize and plan for such inevitable crises, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action (CPA) recently conducted our ninth annual Preventive Priorities Survey. The survey identifies plausible contingencies and ranks them based on their likelihood of occurring in the coming year and potential impact on U.S. interests. (For previous years’ surveys, see here.)
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WNU Editor: An interesting approach from Foreign Policy on prioritising conflicts.
Most of the things mentioned don't even concern us nor do we have the ability to influence them. When the author of this piece mentions crises, I'm reminded of something that I was told many years ago. "A crisis on your part does NOT neccessarily constitute a crisis on my part."
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that buried in the article someone mentiined the possibility of a mass casualty terrorist attack on US soil. Perhaps at least SOMEONE knows we need to focus on trying to prevent this.
Mr. Trump is absolutely on the right track in seeking to lessen US involvement around the world, however, at this piint, I'm not sure he's gone far enough or is willing to do so. Perhaps the top priority should be renegotiating NATO, defense agreements with Japan, defense agreements with South Korea, foreign aid to Egypt, and most other foreign committments with the goal of a complete withdrawal of all US personnel and aid.
If I'm POTUS elect, I want tinetables from these "allies" on my desk by 1/20/17 when I assume office on when this can be achieved. Top personnel from their countries and top personnel from the US would be expected to consult on this in order to arrive at a reasonable time table complete with short tetm, mid term, ane long term goals.