69 million page views

"be tough with allies, be nice to dictators"

Reader comment on item: The Death of Soleimani and Its Consequences

Submitted by Anon (Israel), Jan 8, 2020 at 19:22

This is hardly the case, Dr. Pipes. No one could argue that Trump is being 'nice' to Iran's leaders, nor was he very kind or even polite to N.Korea's leader when their leader was threatening to attack the United States. Instead, he ridiculed him at the United Nations, while also hinting that the U.S would end up killing N.Korea's leader ("little rocket man is on a suicide mission"). Once N.Korea changed its tune, Trump rewarded this about-turn with the occasional compliment.

Nor can anyone claim that Trump is tough on Israel or on the United Kingdom, or on its allies generally.
Actually, it was Obama who sought to appease the U.S's enemies while embarrassing its friends (endlessly criticizing Israel, offending the U.K with a crappy gift of some movies on dvd, which cost $49.50 and which could not be played in the U.K, suggesting that Britain should reach a compromise with Argentina over the Falklands).

By the way, when Trump leaned on Turkey to release the pastor, about a year ago, you speculated that perhaps Trump would extradite Gulen in return. Well, a year has passed and it has not happened. Perhaps you ought to recognize that you were probably mistaken and that the Pastor's release was a fairly significant achievement for Trump and represented a significant defeat for Erdogan.

Finally, of course Trump is tougher on Iran than on Turkey, for the simple reason that unlike Iran's Supreme Leader, Erdogan has not been leading crowds in chants of "Death to America". My feeling is that such chants rub Trump the wrong way and that when the same country also works to construct nuclear weapons, Trump is rather keen on stopping them. If Erdogan will lead crowds in the same chants while building nuclear weapons, I'm sure Trump will be much tougher on him.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (9) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Six Months Later and al-Sissi of Egypt Challenges Erdoǧan [90 words]M ToveyJul 22, 2020 14:18259716
Qasem Solimani and it seems that many Iranians were very happy that he is gone! And Anwar al-'Awalqi [164 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 15, 2020 06:19257806
Qasim Solimani was a vile terrorist [130 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 14, 2020 14:20257792
Consistent Trump Doctrine [126 words]IssacNewtonJan 27, 2020 14:59257480
Suleimani [27 words]Jon E PurizhanskyJan 21, 2020 11:38257344
Subtile Messaging - Complications in Subtext Notwithstanding [130 words]M ToveyJan 23, 2020 13:04257344
Some Things Die Harder Than Others [282 words]M ToveyJul 7, 2020 22:40257344
The difference between Iran and Turkey - to Trump [75 words]DaveJan 9, 2020 22:05257095
3"be tough with allies, be nice to dictators" [304 words]AnonJan 8, 2020 19:22257083

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)