Delusional Self-Interest in Trump’s Jerusalem Move

President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital let him boast about his courage but he ignored both international law and U.S. interests in delivering this gift to the Israel Lobby, as Lawrence Davidson explains.

By Lawrence Davidson

It is not easy to write anything new about President Trump’s Dec. 6 announcement that he (and thus supposedly the U.S. as a nation) was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. After all, plenty of very smart and attentive people have already commented on this decision. I particularly like those who pointed out that Trump’s move replicated that of Arthur Balfour.

Graffiti on the Palestinian side of Israel’s “separation wall” recalls the words of John F. Kennedy in decrying the Berlin Wall with the words in German, “I am a Berliner.” (Photo credit: Marc Venezia)

As Balfour had assumed in 1917 that he could promise Palestine to the Zionists, so Trump seems to have assumed he could legitimize Jerusalem as Israeli territory. The connection seems to support the philosopher George Santayana’s observation that those who know no history are bound to repeat it.

As was the case with Balfour, neither Trump nor the U.S. Congress (whose edict the President has so eagerly carried out) has any legal authority to proceed in this fashion. In the case of Trump and the Congress, what should get in their way is international law – which, when represented in signed treaties, is incorporated into U.S. law. The Geneva Conventions are such a case. Part of these conventions (again, now made U.S. law) makes it illegal to conquer territory and then absorb it by moving your own citizens in while ethnically cleansing the original population. One can also cite the 2002 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court declaring apartheid policies a crime against humanity. This is not U.S. law but reflects international consensus. Israel is in violation of aspects of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute, as well as a host of United Nations resolutions.

Trump, along with the Republicans and Democrats in Congress, seems to be ignorant, or perhaps just callously unconcerned about international law – even when it has become their law. Nowhere is it referenced in Trump’s announcement. It is doubtful that he and those in Congress give it any thought at all. It is this shameless stupidity that concerns me. For, to the extent that we ignore international law, the world returns to the conditions that led to World Wars I and II, and of course, to the Holocaust.

“Open Eyes and Fresh Thinking”

Trump: “When I came into office I promised to look at the world’s challenges with open eyes and very fresh thinking.”

A map showing Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Territories.

Comment: This state of mind cannot be completely achieved because we all are shaped by culture and personal past experiences. However, it can be approximated if one is (a) conscious of one’s biases and assumptions and (b) knows enough relevant history to recognize what is indeed relatively “fresh” and original. I think it is safe to say that President Trump is nowhere near this level of consciousness. Rather than clear-headed and original, he behaves erratically and is very much in the grips of cultural prejudices and personal biases.

President Trump, though a particularly outrageous example of this impaired condition, is not the only American leader to mistake his own ignorance for clear-sightedness (George W. Bush comes to mind). It is perhaps because it is so difficult to really see the world’s problems “with open eyes and fresh thinking” that wiser men and women than Mr. Trump have laid down international laws designed to prevent nation-states from taking actions that have, beyond doubt, proven to be disastrous.

“Alternative Facts”

Trump: The announcement on Jerusalem “marks the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.” Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating the U.S. embassy there will “advance the cause of peace.” We know this to be so because putting off this step for the past 20 years has not advanced that cause.

Comment: Trump’s reasoning here is, well, unreasonable, and historically mistaken. Previous presidents did not delay moving the U.S. embassy because they thought not doing so would help bring about Palestinian-Israeli peace. First, they promised to make this move for domestic political reasons during election campaigns – a nod to the Zionist lobby’s funding potential. Afterward, they held back because to actually take this step would only make things in the Middle East worse, and not only for the Palestinians and the Israelis. The United States has other Muslim rulers in the region who are its “allies.” Trump’s predecessors, or at least their advisors, knew that the men who ruled Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and the like had populations with significant numbers of people who would be quite agitated over just the move Trump has now undertaken. These U.S. leaders feared, not without reason, that ceding Jerusalem to the Israelis would destabilize those allies and boost the threat of terrorism.

No doubt aided by an abiding ignorance, President Trump has replaced the facts, which held back the hand of his predecessors with “alternative facts.” For instance, he has replaced the facts that make up the history of Jerusalem as related to both Islam and Christianity, and the millennia-old emotions that go along with it, with the reality of an illegal 50-year occupation of the entire city by Israel. Having rendered truth in this fashion, the President concludes that his decision must be in the interest of both the U.S. and peace because it is “nothing more or less than the recognition of reality.”

How simple is President Trump’s world! Simple as only the ignorant can see it. No wonder Secretary of State Tillerson (who is not without his own short-sightedness) called President Trump a “moron.”

Don’t Misunderstand Me

Much of the rest of the President’s speech was an attempt to assure the world that what he had just declared was not as “fresh” and new as he at first claimed.

President Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York on Sept. 18, 2017. (Screenshot from Whitehouse.gov)

Trump: “I want to make one point very clear …. The United States remains deeply committed to helping to facilitate a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides.” We are “not taking a position on any final status issues.”

 

Comment: It is at this point that you have to ask just what world the President is living in. Actually, the answer is not that hard to come by. It is a personal world that is singularly egocentric. As such it has no real relevance to U.S. national interests and certainly not to Palestinian-Israeli conflict resolution. Its only reference point is Trump’s own, largely unrestrained, self-serving urges and needs.

According to reports coming from inside the White House, Trump was interested in the alleged prestige of being the President who actually went through with the promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. “While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today I am delivering.”

He sought out those who would encourage his goal – those who are hardly any more knowledgeable than he – his Christian Fundamentalist Vice President Mike Pence, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is a family friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump is also reported to have been encouraged to take this step by the Senate Minority Leader Charles Shumer, a man whose only foreign policy interest is in supporting Israel. Trump ignored the advice of his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, both of whom thought the move ill-advised. So now we have the Zionists and Christian fundamentalists standing behind Trump, patting him on the back. The rest of the world stands in front of him, aghast. Typical of the self-serving type he is, Trump only cares about the blandishments pushing him in the direction he wants to go.

That direction is decidedly backwards. Back in the direction of no rules, no international law, not even any binding treaties to bother with. Just free rein for the whims of the leader.

Power and the Will

One gets the sense that Trump feels he can simply create a new reality by the exercise of his will. I want to emphasize the word “feels” here because I do not think the President reasons out these actions. He experiences a feeling that suggests to him a way he can change things. He does not weigh this feeling against history or contemporary reality. For example, take his description of the eventual new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem as “a magnificent tribute to peace.”

This equating of what one feels or wills with what will actually be is a sign of a delusional personality – someone who can’t tell the difference between his own opinion and hard facts. To have such a person in a position of power is dangerous indeed. We know this from experience. The only things that may keep such impulsive people in check are rules – rules that are at once humane and based on historical lessons learned, and rules that are enforced.

Such rules exist. They were introduced in the form of a growing body of international law as nations confronted the consequences of modern warfare and brutality. Unfortunately, today these rules are rarely enforced – and never done so when it comes to superpowers and their close allies.

 

So Donald Trump, with his alleged “open eyes” and “fresh thinking,” pays no attention to the rules. Announcing his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he leads us all backwards toward disaster.

Lawrence Davidson is a history professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Foreign Policy Inc.: Privatizing America’s National Interest; America’s Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood; and Islamic Fundamentalism. He blogs at www.tothepointanalyses.com.

43 comments for “Delusional Self-Interest in Trump’s Jerusalem Move

  1. Giovanni
    December 29, 2017 at 17:06

    Trump’s action on Jerusalem was purely an expedient move in order to get the tax overhaul passed in the senate. He wants what is good for the American people and the rest of World opinion does not count. The Senate is 100% in accord with Zionist desires. It was a trade-off. We heard talk earlier this year from people like Kushner that there probably is no solution to the Israeli / Palestinian situation. I think that is true. It is like Mosha Dyan (sic), the Israeli General, who said “the issue is not finding a solution but living without one”. This is a war America should extricate itself from but that won’t happen because of American Zionists.

  2. Patricia Victour
    December 27, 2017 at 11:52

    Forget Russia. Look no farther than AIPAC to understand what country has undue influence over American policy.

  3. melvin polatnick
    December 26, 2017 at 12:43

    Thousands of areas on the planet have some injustice done to its population. But the Jew haters follow and hound those residents of Israel. Why don’t they concentrate on Yemen or Tibet instead of the Jewish homeland? Trump has kicked anti-Jew ass by putting their embassy in Jerusalem. Napalm all the Arabs, they deserve the heat.

    • Zachary Smith
      December 28, 2017 at 13:44

      Napalm all the Arabs, they deserve the heat.

      What the Zionist Trolls WANT to say all the time. This one picks a nearly out-of-sight thread to vent with his true feelings.

  4. December 22, 2017 at 12:15

    The attacks on Trump get tiresome, as if the botched policy in the Middle East belongs to him alone. He is not alone, of course, the whole Congress and millions of Zionists, Christian and Jews, are behind him. Yes, his decision was corrupt and criminal but mirrors what has happened since the turn of the twentieth century. To paraphrase Balfour, when asked whether he had consulted Muslim leaders about the Declaration, he stated that no he hadn’t and had no intention of doing so.

    The overwhelming rejection of Trump’s decision is criticized by many for laying bare what is happening in the land once called Palestine and are exasperated with the clumsy way it was handled. Yes, they say that is what we want but it will take time. Trump’s chutzpah and impatience is therefore a setback.

    The result of the overwhelming rejection of America’s decision presents possibilities. A divided world suggests what has long been the aspirations of many who see the real significance and meaning of Jerusalem. It is a city that belongs to no one and every one. The world saw that after World War II and created land for Jews and land for Palestinians but made Jerusalem and international city.

    It is one of the options that must occur to world leaders today, as it did seventy five years ago. Nothing strikes visitors more that the Israeli flags all over the city. It would be the same reaction no matter the national flag. Jerusalem, a city belonging to no one and everyone, an international city.

    • Tannenhouser
      December 22, 2017 at 12:45

      I agree fully completely. This line especially
      “The result of the overwhelming rejection of America’s decision presents possibilities. ”
      What say you of the possibilities of the Palestinians calling Trumps Jerusalem bluff, by agreeing to a single state solution in the name of peace once they are ceded the same rights and privilege FULL citizenship would guarantee them?

  5. Jeff
    December 21, 2017 at 22:58

    It’s funny to hear liberals, who want nothing less than the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews everywhere, talk about apartheid.

    • Zachary Smith
      December 21, 2017 at 23:40

      Hard to say about this one. Possibly some home-schooled Protestant Fundie. But just as possibly a right-wing settler on some stolen West Bank land.

      If it’s the former, I’ll bet he doesn’t give a solitary damn about the brutalization of the Christian Palestinians.

    • Abe
      December 22, 2017 at 00:34

      Right, Jeff.

      It was funny to hear that arch-liberal Hillary Clinton, who wants nothing less than the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jews everywhere, talk about apartheid at the pro-Israel Lobby organization American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference in 2016.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9ZMsrx5lkU

      And it really funny to hear all those Jew-hating liberals, who want nothing less than a second Holocaust, applaud their murderous Nazi hatred during 29 standing ovations when Netanyahu appeared in front of a joint session of Congress in 2015.

      Jews everywhere are threatened by all this “new Anti-Semitism”.

  6. Gerry
    December 21, 2017 at 22:24

    Your article is a little bit unclear. Are you suggesting it was illegal for President Trump to announce he was moving the U S embassy to Jerusalem?

    • Zachary Smith
      December 21, 2017 at 23:46

      I don’t suppose you’ve heard that we in the US are “exceptional”. Though we sign treaties about things like torture and illegal occupations, they don’t really apply to us, despite the prohibitions becoming “officially” part of US law. Same thing with the Indian Treaties, of course. These apply only when the Indians are getting the rusty shaft. NEVER good and pure and exceptional USA-America.

      I suppose the “legality” of the situation depends on how you care to look at it.

  7. Zachary Smith
    December 21, 2017 at 21:51

    Trump’s threat appeared to have some impact, with more countries abstaining and rejecting the resolution than usually associated with Palestinian-related resolutions.

    Nevertheless, Washington found itself isolated as many of its Western and Arab allies voted for the measure. Some of those allies, like Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, are major recipients of U.S. military or economic aid, although the U.S. threat to cut aid did not single out any country.

    It’s my guess that Trump will single out some small African nation to beat up on, for driving any of these into the arms of the Russians or Chinese would be stupid even by his very low standards.

    • Martin - Swedish citizen
      December 22, 2017 at 13:51

      Isn’t it in fact likely that this type of blackmail, as pronounced by Nikki Haley, is standard US behaviour (and perhaps not confined only to the US either), the difference being that the Trump administration is only more open about it?

  8. Abe
    December 21, 2017 at 20:38

    The Netanyahu regime appears to be little concerned about Israel’s “exposure” as an Apartheid state.

    Indeed, Israel appears to be emboldened in its ongoing seizure of Palestinian homes and land.

    So what is the Israeli end game?

    On 3 December 2017, Jared Kushner was keynote speaker at the Saban Forum at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Kushner had an entertaining li’l “real estate deal” chat with the Clinton-supporting Israeli-American media mogul Haim Saban,

    Earlier that day, Benjamin Netanyahu had addressed the Brookings Institution audience in a video call. he insisted that the “only workable solution is not a unitary state, but a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state”.

    Netanyahu unequivocally declared, “Israel will not be a binational state.”

    On the surface, Netanyahu’s remarks appear to be an absolute rejection of a one-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    In fact, what Netanyahu rejects is any solution other than the current Apartheid regime of Israeli Jewish domination over its Muslim citizens.

    Behind the scenes, efforts are well underway to enforce a unilateral Israeli annexation of the entire West Bank, most likely as a consequence of upcoming planned military attacks on Lebanon and Syria by Israeli-Saudi-Axis forces coordinated with their Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorist proxies.

    ISRAEL’S FINAL SOLUTION

    Living in an Apartheid state established by war and ethnic cleansing, Israeli Jews have generally tended to view a one-state solution as a demographic threat that would overturn the prevailing Jewish majority within Israel. Current support among Israeli Jews, and Jews generally, for a one-state solution is very low.

    However, as has been demonstrated repeatedly in the past, Jewish public opinion in Israel and abroad can shift dramatically in a context of war.

    Several Israeli Jewish politicians, including former defense minister Moshe Arens, current President Reuven Rivlin, and right wing figures like Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and Uri Ariel, have voiced support for a one-state solution that would require Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory, with differing views on how to dispose of the Palestinian Muslim population.

    Right wing Israeli Jewish politicians and political commentators have advocated outright annexation of the West Bank, granting its Muslim Palestinian population Israeli citizenship while maintaining Israel’s current status as a Jewish state.

    In 2013, Likud Knesset Minister Hotovely argued that Israel should annex the West Bank as a historic part of the Land of Israel.

    Naftali Bennett, leader of the Jewish Home party, included in many Likud-led coalitions, has argued for official Israeli annexation of Zone C of the West Bank. Zone C, agreed upon as part of the Oslo Accords, comprises about 60% of West Bank land and is currently under Israeli military control.

    In her book The Israeli Solution (2014), American-born Israeli propagandist Caroline Glick claims that Israel could annex the West Bank and still maintain a Jewish demographic majority. Glick is a Senior Fellow at the pro-Israel Center for Security Policy, a Washington, D.C. neocon think tank described by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2016 as a hate group and “conspiracy-oriented mouthpiece” for the anti-Muslim movement. She also is a lecturer in tactical warfare at the IDF’s Command and Staff College, and a columnist for the Jerusalem Post.

    Israeli Jewish demographers like Arnon Soffer and Sergio DellaPergola have presented figures that suggest Israel can secure a Jewish numerical majority population with annexation of the West Bank. However, according to DellaPergola, the high total fertility rate among Muslim Palestinians accompanied by a return of Palestinian refugees, would quickly render Jews a minority.

    GAZA AS AN ANNEXATION DUMPSTER

    Proposals from the Israeli right for a one-state solution by means of annexation generally tend to avoid advocating annexation of the Gaza Strip, due to its large Muslim Palestinian population.

    Netanyahu’s proposed “demilitarized Palestinian state” would most likely be a further demolished and blockaded version of the Gaza open prison, with Israel having seized all remaining Palestinian territory to the Jordanian border.

    Israeli Muslims have expressed tenuous support for a one-state solution. Many Israeli Muslims have been concerned that a two-state solution would result in Israeli Jewish pressures for them to move into a Palestinian state, causing them to lose their homes and access to their communities, businesses and cities inside Israel.

    • Tannenhouser
      December 22, 2017 at 10:32

      Abe, if…..

      “The Netanyahu regime appears to be little concerned about Israel’s “exposure” as an Apartheid state.”

      Why all the effort to subdue the BDS movement in Western power structures then?

      To be clear, this isn’t a Troll. It’s a well intentioned and legit question to a poster with powers of magnitude greater knowledge on this subject than myself. To be clear.

      With respect and thanks in advance.

      • Abe
        December 23, 2017 at 13:16

        To be clear, the Netanyahu regime is little concerned precisely because of all the many pro-Israel Lobby efforts in Western power structures to “subdue” the BDS movement.

        The Israeli government “mad dog” mentality is an added factor, to be “perfectly” clear.

        With respect and thanks back at ya, as always, dear comrade.

        • Tannenhouser
          December 24, 2017 at 15:25

          Hmm I wouldn’t have seen the netanyahu regime as separate from the pro israel lobbies or independent acting anyways.

          The mad dog/Samson option being a factor of course.

          Thanks again….

  9. R Davis
    December 21, 2017 at 17:24

    Isn’t it the Evangelicals who support Trump – some 5 million faithful – that are the push for Jerusalem to be the capitol of israel?
    The Evangelicals, who are wanting & working tirelessly for End Time Prophecy to come about, so that the unrepentant can be judged & sent to hell where they rightfully belong, according to them this will make up most of the worlds peoples, leaving the Evangelicals & the Jews to populate the world.
    Rapture: the rising up into the sky of the faithful to meet Christ at the second coming, Rapture sounds very much like Clusters of Nuclear Holocausts, where most of the world’s populations will be extinguished.

    Insanity sounds like a good word right about here.

    • Annie
      December 21, 2017 at 18:31

      Maybe this is more about Israel having too much power in the politics of this country then anything else. Trump might be playing to his Evangelical base, and have a son-in-law whose family has strong and financial ties to Israel, but what about the Balfour Declaration issued by the British after WWI which helped Zionist Jews establish a homeland in Palestine which had only a minority of Jews? What about the US under Truman after WWII giving Israel a state of it’s own in Palestine? What about all the presidents that came before Trump who have always aligned themselves with Israel, and have excused Israel’s brutality toward the Palestinians from it’s inception as a state?

      • Tannenhouser
        December 21, 2017 at 19:26

        Indeed Annie. Private finance, the capitol it collects, and finally the influence that brings have allowed a particularly cruel Ideology to hold sway in too many countries, including Israel, which only exists today because of this influence.

    • Tannenhouser
      December 21, 2017 at 19:50

      R Davis I’m pretty sure even the Jews gotta switch sides or die in Armageddon, making them no longer Jews right?

      FUBAR is another word that sounds good here. If it comes true there is hope for unbelievers. I believe the story says, and refers to them as witnesses. They can join the struggle against evil in the physical plane, repent, become believers and join their lord at their end.

      So it’s not all real bad:) except of course for those on board an international flight when the pilot is raptured.

      It’s been awhile since I jumped into this rabbit hole so, I could be wrong here, perhaps another here can back me up or correct me.

    • Zachary Smith
      December 22, 2017 at 00:20

      It’s my impression that the Rapture Nuts are beginning to look for a match – something to touch off the Big Adventure In The Sky.

      Wouldn’t surprise me if, during the next Israeli attack on Lebanon, a Hezbollah missile doesn’t squarely impact the Muslim Church in Jerusalem, and completely destroy the structure.

      What a darned shame, and a Jewish Temple would immediately be installed on the fine foundations of the Roman Fort Antonia.

      Very likely the preparations for the “Third Temple” are extremely advanced. I’ve heard all kinds of rumors about the stones having been already prepared. Example:

      ‘60,000 tons of Bedford limestone shipped to Israel in the 1970s’

      That particular story is likely poppycock, for it tells of a secret Vatican plot. But the essence is almost surely true. Devout folks with unlimited US money have had decades to secretly prepare a prefab rock building which can be put into place extremely quickly. I don’t know much about the other requirements – there seems to be a DNA search on for men (Aaron descendents) who (it will be claimed) can instantly put on Priestly robes and start doing all the temple rites. And then there is the Red Heifer.

      The altar and sacred vessels have been reconstructed. The architectural plans are being drawn up. Now a group is taking another step toward fulfilling the biblical prophecy of a restored Temple by raising a group of red heifers in the land of Israel.

      And evangelical Christian leaders are divided about what it means if the Third Temple, prophesied to play a key role in the end times, can actually be constructed in Jerusalem.

      Before the Temple can rise, builders must secure a red heifer, or “para aduma,” a three-year-old female cow with totally red hair that is supposed to be able to restore a state of “purity” after ritual slaughter.

      If I was a betting man, I’d wager that this breeding effort has already been successful. Again, they’ve had tens of years, and unlimited money. Look at how quickly the Russian Red Fox was domesticated – and without any high-tech stuff other than selecting the tamest ones for generation after generation.

      The Russian domesticated red fox is a domesticated form of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). They are the result of an experiment which was designed to demonstrate the power of selective breeding to transform species, as described by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species.[1] The experiment was purposely designed to replicate the process that had produced dogs from wolves, by recording the changes in foxes, when in each generation only the most tame foxes were allowed to breed. In short order, the descendant foxes became tamer and more dog-like.

      The program was started in 1959 in the Soviet Union by zoologist Dmitry Belyayev and it has been in continuous operation since.

      Look at how quickly a Burpee prize offer produced a white marigold.

      In its 1954 catalog, W. Atlee Burpee & Co. first advertised a competition for the development of the first white marigold flower, offering $10,000 to any gardener whose efforts produced a flower deemed to be pure white. 21 years later, the prize was awarded to 67-year-old Alice Vonk of Sully, Iowa, who received $100 the previous year as one of six gardeners nationwide whose marigolds came closest to being white. Vonk kept seeds from the lightest flowers in her garden each season, replanting for over two decades before achieving a pure white marigold that measured 2.5 inches in diameter. Her entry in the 1975 edition of the contest topped 8,200 other entrants and produced what was then described as the “costliest flower ever.”

      So the crazies might not have to cheat, but since neither the Nutty Fundies nor the Murderous Zionists are noted for their honesty, they’d sure use genetic engineering if they had to. After all, the perfect critter is destined to be burned to ashes, and the evidence at that point is gone!

      Batten the hatches, for the clueless Trump has taken yet another step towards pulling the Rapture Ripcord. I’d hate for him to learn of this, for I fear his immediate reaction would be “How else can I help”.

      • Tannenhouser
        December 22, 2017 at 10:14

        How else can I help? Lol. Thanks Zach. Almost spit my coffee out.

      • Tannenhouser
        December 22, 2017 at 10:23

        That is ‘rapture nut’ info if I dare say so. Not to mention highly intriguing. Thanks, I will definitely be adding those to the rabbit hole list I keep for spare time.

  10. Annie
    December 21, 2017 at 16:44

    Well, if one is to look at the bright side the Security Counsel vote said the US stands alone in it’s position on making Jerusalem the capital of Israel by a 14 to 1 vote against the resolution. US allies like France and Britain and Saudi Arabia, who was in agreement with Iran which is unique, didn’t go along to get along. It just failed in the General Assembly even with Trump and Nikki Haley’s threats of penalizing those not in agreement with US policy. Those threats by Haley and Trump made them look like spoiled brats who didn’t get their way. I very much doubt those threats will be carried out. All bluster.

  11. Michael Chejlava
    December 21, 2017 at 16:20

    Trump and the republicans ARE following international law in Puerto Rico, which was invaded by the US and occupied.
    They are now calling it a foreign country.

  12. mike k
    December 21, 2017 at 15:40

    Arrogance is a word that captures Trump perfectly. This is the fatal disease of hubris, which renders the reason and restraining senses impotent to rein in the madman under it’s power. Trump believes he can never be wrong, and this fatal flaw condemns him and those under his influence to do incalculable harm before being ultimately destroyed by their own actions.

    • Tannenhouser
      December 21, 2017 at 19:59

      He is definitely the American stereotype. Interestingly enough once you move past this his administration is stocked with the same bankers, ideologue’s and corporate whores as his smooth talking predecessor. Not that much has changed since the last POTUS, indeed since Reagan actually that I can see anyways.

  13. Tannenhouser
    December 21, 2017 at 15:16

    @ alley cat
    “but he has also done the world a favor by flaunting his own immorality and callousness so openly” He may also have created an opportunity of historic proportions.

    If the Palestinians were to say, ok we will side with Peace and compromise on a one state solution granted we are ceded FULL rights as citizen’s.

    The Zionist regime will never allow this, and will be exposed even further as an Apartheid state. This may even embolden the majority that oppose this move to take further direct actions similar to when the apartheid regime in South Africa fell.

    At the very least this move will, as you said draw the lines even starker.

    • alley cat
      December 21, 2017 at 16:59

      The Zionist regime will never allow this, and will be exposed even further as an Apartheid state.

      Yes! Their rabid racism (they’re actually not a separate race but they think they are) prevents any compromise or compassion on their part and ensures their ultimate defeat.

  14. December 21, 2017 at 15:15

    Trump is simply stripping away the hypocrisy. The idea he is inventing a new American approach that disregards international law is nonsense. I’m not sure we have ever obeyed ‘international law’, and Trump still has a long way to go to outdo his last two predecessors. Not that it won’t be a disaster of course. Attacking N. Korea would Trump in his own category, even outdoing the idiocy of W.

    • Martin - Swedish citizen
      December 22, 2017 at 13:36

      I must agree, and disagree with the author, in this aspect.
      At least from this vantage point, Trump’s behaviour is the same as that of his predecessors. The difference may be that he is more candid. It looks like, considering the massive bipartisan support for his recognition of Jerusalem, that he has practically the entire US population behind him, that it is not something that should be blamed on Trump alone. Maybe I am wrong, of course, it is the impression one gets, however. Perhaps his straightforwardness can contribute by demonstrating the illegal and unjust situation, disqualifying the US for the time being and promote the rest of the world to act, finally.

  15. backwardsevolution
    December 21, 2017 at 15:15

    “I think it is safe to say that President Trump is nowhere near this level of consciousness. Rather than clear-headed and original, he behaves erratically and is very much in the grips of cultural prejudices and personal biases.”

    I think President Trump sees very clearly, and his behavior is anything but erratic. In fact, given the forces that are currently at play against him, his actions are really quite predictable.

    These “forces” know what Trump wants: to make America beautiful again, bring jobs back, stop illegal immigration. In order to get what he wants, Trump is going to have to play ball. Jerusalem is one of the plays.

    When you are hanging by a thread, as Trump is, you don’t get to dictate. You are a puppet who does what the “thread” tells you to do. Who is holding the other end of the thread?

    Whenever you want to play ball, it helps when the team you’re playing isn’t stacked against you. Is Trump playing against a stacked team? I would argue that, yes, he is.

    Zionist and corporate forces own the U.S. lock, stock and barrel. They own the media, Hollywood, academia, the House, the Senate, Wall Street, telecommunications, lobbyists…..

    Tell me when you want to get serious and start looking at these “forces”. But you don’t want to do that, do you? It’s easier to blame the chump.

    “For, to the extent that we ignore international law, the world returns to the conditions that led to World Wars I and II, and of course, to the Holocaust.”

    The Holocaust may have ended for the Jews, but it never really ended, did it? It just got transferred to millions of other people. I predict it will return to the Jews, though, and again there will be cries of “Oh, the inhumanity!”

    As Dickens said:

    “Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.”

    • Tannenhouser
      December 21, 2017 at 20:04

      “Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.”

      That was awesome, thanks for that. Actually your whole post was. I feel the same frustration at human kind’s battle with symptoms while ignoring causes.

  16. Joe Tedesky
    December 21, 2017 at 14:12

    Nikki Haley drew the line in the sand, and her along with President Trump are taking names with promises to take out their revenge on any nation who doesn’t tow the line in favor of the U.S. demands upon its vassal states. This kind of international gansterism being brought about by the U.S. is nothing short of pure unadulterated extortion. No one likes being forced to do anything, so tell me how will Trump form any coalition of the willing when all the willing partners are being forced to the table? Only could an administration living inside of it’s own air filled bubble of hubris could believe their on the winning side of this Jerusalem Israeli capital issue. This U.S. observing of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will be seen as the pin which burst the overinflated balloon which has run havoc over the world for well over these past 70 years, and America will eventually need to join the rest of the world as it’s sovereign partner, as opposed to it portraying itself as the planets ugly giant.

  17. alley cat
    December 21, 2017 at 14:07

    Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as a Jewish city is obviously much more than a recognition of reality. It’s a brazen endorsement of Israeli ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

    Expect the president’s bold criminality to incentivize global opposition to Zionist apartheid, especially citizen opposition in the form of the BDS movement.

    Also expect intensified efforts by our heavily Zionist-influenced government to criminalize opposition to apartheid and criticism of Israel.

    Trump probably thinks he has bought himself some insurance against impeachment by doing this huge favor for the Zionists, but he has also done the world a favor by flaunting his own immorality and callousness so openly.

    The battle lines are now starkly drawn for all to see: Zionism (and its stooges) vs. humanity.

  18. Zachary Smith
    December 21, 2017 at 13:08

    Trump, along with the Republicans and Democrats in Congress, seems to be ignorant, or perhaps just callously unconcerned about international law – even when it has become their law.

    Why not both?

    Comment: It is at this point that you have to ask just what world the President is living in. Actually, the answer is not that hard to come by. It is a personal world that is singularly egocentric.

    Precisely! TrumpWorld is a place which is the center of the Universe. I dimly recall how when I was a little kid I was that way. The only thing which mattered was ME. Because of his wealth and continued ignorance Trump has seen no reason whatever to grow out of that condition.

    Mr. Davidson has written a good capsule summary of our dangerous and delusional POTUS.

  19. Abe
    December 21, 2017 at 13:01

    Trump’s 6 December 2017 White House “new approach” statement reflected delusional Israeli interest.

    Reading a Hasbara propaganda script drafted entirely by the pro-Israel Lobby, Trump ‘splained’ that it’s “time for the many who desire peace to expel the extremists from their midst”.

    That’s Israeli propaganda boilerplate rhetoric for the next phase of ethnic cleansing and annexation of Palestinian territory.

    Meanwhile Israeli-Saudi-US Axis plans for more regional war continue apace:

    “ongoing Western operations in Syria are aimed not at fighting and defeating ISIS or Al Qaeda, but using the presence of both groups as a pretext to prevent the Syrian government from restoring order to the country, preserving its territorial integrity, and rebuilding its economy. Both terrorist organizations serve as placeholders, denying Damascus access to its own territory until US military assets can take and hold it.

    “In other words, in regards to minimizing Iranian influence in Iraq and Syria, the US is determined to divide and destroy both nations and their people, plunder their resources, and maintain their collective territory as a breeding ground for sectarianism and extremism. Iranian attempts to assist each nation – or both – comes at the cost of extending itself militarily and economically. […]

    “claiming that the US must remain in Iraq to “rebuild” the country and continue operations in Syria to “fight terrorism” allows Washington to continue sowing chaos in both nations, chalking up any noticeable inconsistencies between its alleged policy and its actual plans to tenacious terrorists or even Iran itself.”

    US Plans Slash and Burn of Middle East to “Minimize” Iranian Influence
    By Tony Cartalucci
    http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2017/12/us-plans-slash-and-burn-of-middle-east.html

  20. fudmier
    December 21, 2017 at 12:41

    Appointed King of Global Propaganda and Icon Maker: Rothschild Balfour Trump

    Oil, man its about oil; gas yes man gas, and Oh yes, fracking Oil gas; Ah de FOG
    Fog, the Sugar men of Golan… MBS, Hariri, Sisi and the tag along crowd.
    Wall Street, Central Banking, Military force, ISIS, Divide and Conquer, unwanted and unwarranted Invasion,
    Regime Change, WMD, Propaganda, Rule of law restricted speech, protest, and assembly, Corruption..etc.

    http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/21/546351/What-is-behind-Zionist-orientation-of-US

    The governed should not fear, they are in good hands, as the Zionist are here.

  21. December 21, 2017 at 12:06

    What good is International Law when, to this day, it has allowed the Zionist Occupation of West Bank?

    And it was the UN itself that sanctioned the destruction of Palestine and creation of Israel in its stead.

    ‘International Law’ was always a game of cynical politics.

  22. Sally Snyder
    December 21, 2017 at 11:43

    While the world focusses on the Trump Administration’s imperialistic approach to global dominance, as shown in this article, he is, in at least some ways, little different than his predecessor:

    https://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2017/11/when-united-states-jumped-shark.html

    The imposition of America’s will on the Middle East is yet another example of unfettered hegemony.

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