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posted by Fnord666 on Monday February 19 2018, @08:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the news-about-news dept.

"There's always more of a response when I have a Trump peg," Sulome says of her pitches since Trump's election."Why are we giving in to this man's narcissistic dream?" she would like to ask editors. "When people lose sight of what's going on around the world, we allow our government to make foreign policy decisions that don't benefit us. It makes it so much easier for them to do that when we don't have the facts. Like if we don't know that the crisis in Yemen is killing and starving so many people and making Yemenis more extremist, how will people know not to support a policy in which we are attacking Yemenis?"

Applewhite agrees that this exclusive focus on Trump and other domestic issues could be detrimental to Americans' understanding of the world, and our ability to make sound political decisions.

https://www.cjr.org/covering_trump/trump-impact-foreign-reporting.php


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Monday February 19 2018, @09:02PM (3 children)

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday February 19 2018, @09:02PM (#640266)

    The US has almost never made foreign policy to benefit ordinary Americans, and to think it might at some point is pretty naive.

    The Monroe Doctrine was announced in 1823 for instance and was the basis of incredible brutality in Guatemala for the benefit of The United Fruit Company only, the support of murderous right wing death squads in Nicaragua prolonged their civil war for 30 years or so and the CIA ensured the democratically elected President of Chile was overthrown and murdered.

    Just 3 examples, there are no doubt lots more.

    I am sure Mr. Trump has almost no influence on US foreign policy, he probably doesn't understand it anyway, and I'm sure the adults in charge are happy for him to sit in his room eating McDonalds, watching Fox News and Tweeting. Regular golf games will be encouraged also.

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  • (Score: 4, Disagree) by jelizondo on Monday February 19 2018, @09:50PM (2 children)

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Monday February 19 2018, @09:50PM (#640292) Journal

    You are quite right, but it is not the whole shebang.

    In the past, even if U.S. policy was in favor of corporate interests, it was at least coherent with said interests.

    Take the most recent developments. Arming and training the Kurds in Syria, which are a threat to Turkey’s territorial integrity, is a stupid move. The Turks (for all they faults) are an ally and NATO member. Results? Turkey moves towards Moscow, where they find support and Russia is happy to have more allies in the Middle East.

    Then, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital sent the very clear signal that the U.S. is on the side of Israel and Arabs should take notice and not trust the U.S. as mediator between them and Israel. Results? There is rapprochement between Saudis and other Arab nations and Russia.

    And both situations play into China’s plan for economic expansion into the Far and Middle East, with their Silk Road program. How are U.S. interests, even corporate interests, served well by helping China and Russia?

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Monday February 19 2018, @10:24PM (1 child)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday February 19 2018, @10:24PM (#640305)

      Those are all excellent points, and very well made.

      I would put it down to the usual CIA failure to understand local cultures and failure to see the big picture.

      A close look at the whole Vietnam debacle might show they've learned very little in the last 40 years.

      • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday February 20 2018, @02:10AM

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Tuesday February 20 2018, @02:10AM (#640400) Homepage

        Oh, they learned plenty. They learned that their misadventures are won through the hearts and minds of Americans, not "local cultures." That's why they gradually seized control of American media, culminating in their plant Grand-Emperor-For-Life Baraq Hussein Soetoro officially legalizing the use of domestic propaganda against American citizens.

        Anybody with half a brain can see it when watching mainstream media.