Microsoft: A Return to the Dot-Com Era

 

TRUMP ABANDONS RUSSIA IN FAVOR OF WOOING CHINA.

 

Putin: Trump has harmed US-Russia relations

 

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has a new best friend.

 Trump has speculated on how well he and Russian President Vladimir Putin might get along. Then-candidate Trump said Putin had called him a "genius," chastised the Obama administration's tensions with Moscow, and stated that it would be better "if we got along."

 

China, on the other hand, was a currency manipulator and a thief of US jobs who should be barred from "raping our country." If elected, Trump has threatened to slap steep taxes on China and sue it in court for unfair trade practices.

It turns out that possessing power, rather than condemning it, might alter your perspective.

Trump stated earlier this month that "we're not getting along with Russia at all, we may be at an all-time low" as his government increased US military action in Syria and Afghanistan in an effort to restore US authority. Trump, on the other hand, claims to have "extremely excellent chemistry" with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The President's shift on Russia and China is part of a pattern of policy shifts that has seen Trump alter campaign commitments on NATO, Israel, the Iran nuclear deal, and US Asian relationships.

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The changes that put Trump's government in line with many Obama and George W. Bush administration policies may not survive under this volatile president, but they represent certain basic truths about America's interests.

"Whatever the campaign objectives were, they have given way to the realities of what it takes to execute American foreign policy in a brutal and unforgiving world," Aaron David Miller, vice president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said.

"The way this administration does business is incredibly unconventional in so many ways," Miller said, "but the eventual conclusion on so many subjects now appears to come back to a fairly normal approach."

So it is with Russia and China these days.

Trump had been keen to repair relations with Moscow, and he had frequently voiced optimism that his ability to connect with Putin would reduce tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia's participation in Syria and its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

However, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is accused of Chemical weapons assault on April 4th on his own citizens sparked Trump's indignation, prompting him to launch Tomahawk missiles against a Syrian airbase and appearing to signal a shift in Trump's attitude toward Russia, which has backed Assad throughout Syria's deadly civil war.

Trump's administration has already begun adjusting its views on Moscow as the former real estate billionaire recruited more officials into the White House who supported conventional foreign policy ideas, despite the shadow cast by Russia's alleged intervention in the US election.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who had his own foreign policy research and risk analysis staff as CEO of ExxonMobil, and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley all sounded a tougher tone on Russia than the President, pointing out how Moscow works to undermine US interests around the world.

"They were all talking much harder on Russia, much more like the Obama administration, and the White House was the anomaly," said Angela Stent, head of Georgetown University's Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies.

The US missile attack was an exclamation point showing that Trump, at least for the time being, has come to view Russia in more traditional US foreign policy terms. "You now have a much more unified stance against Russia," Stent added.

Putin told Russian television on Wednesday that the relationship between Washington and Moscow has "deteriorated" under Trump.

Even as he struck a harder tone toward the long-standing US rival, Trump appeared to reassure NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a Wednesday address, saying, "It would be amazing... if NATO and our country could get along with Russia." Trump tweeted on Thursday, "Things will be good between the United States and Russia. Everyone will come to their senses at the correct moment, and there will be enduring peace!"

However, Stent believes that US-Russia tensions will certainly persist. "All of the problems that the former government had remain," she stated.

"According to Miller, a former State Department official, "you had these role reversals with China as the bad guy and Putin being courted." But, in the face of reality, there has been a shift. Russia has essentially taken up the role that China was expected to play in the Trump administration."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's accelerated pursuit of nuclear and missile capability is among the "reality" challenges Trump faces. Trump praised Xi this week in tweets for agreeing to assist restrict North Korea, which may be about to conduct its sixth nuclear test. Beijing is Pyongyang's most important ally.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday that he informed Xi that a trade agreement with the US would be "far better for them if they solve the North Korea issue." Trump tweeted on Wednesday that he and Xi had made "a very excellent call" on Pyongyang. On Thursday, Trump tweeted that he had "There is a lot of hope that China will deal with North Korea appropriately. If they are unable to do so, the United States and its allies will!"

According to Sandy Pho, a senior program associate at the Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China, Trump, like many new presidents, has had to learn the ways of Beijing.

"You are unable to communicate with China."

That's what I believe he realized. 

It's far too essential. " On the other hand, Pho warned Trump that he may be underestimating China's power over North Korea and its desire for a favorable outcome for the US.

Beijing seeks stability in North Korea rather than potentially disruptive development. 

"The last thing they want is a swarm of North Korean migrants crossing their border," Pho explained.

The only thing worse for Beijing, she continued, would be a united and US-allied Korean Peninsula on the border.

If Trump believes that his new approach to geopolitical opponents would help him pit them against each other, however, Stent advises him to reconsider.

"You are unable to communicate with China."

That's what I believe he realized.

It's far too essential. " On the other hand, Pho warned Trump that he may be underestimating China's influence over North Korea and its desire for a good outcome for the US.

Beijing seeks stability in North Korea rather than potentially disruptive development.

"The last thing they want is a swarm of North Korean migrants crossing their border," Pho explained.

The only thing worse for Beijing, she continued, would be a united and US-allied Korean Peninsula on the border.

If Trump feels that his new strategy for geopolitical opponents would help him set them against each other, Stent tells him to rethink.