Monday (11/6/2017) Trump admin’s Mideast policies still Obama’s

The likely context for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s decisive move over the weekend against his domestic opponents is President Trump’s personal support for him on the one hand over against the ineffectual and even counter-productive Mideast policies being implemented by the President’s delegates. These are a continuation of President Obama’s pro-Iranian efforts, Israeli-American columnist Caroline Glick charges in her latest Jerusalem Post column.

President’s Asia trip

President Trump is having more success on the security front during his twelve-day trip to Asia. The administration is successfully reviving the long-dormant quadrilateral alliance of the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia to contain China — and China is worried.

Control of the sea lanes to the Mideast is crucial to this effort, because Chinese dependence on Mideast oil is its Achilles heel.

India has become extremely concerned at Chinese efforts to control the maritime routes around the Indian subcontinent and is now moving, in coordination with the U.S., to counter Chinese investments and influence in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

President Trump, realizing that stepping up the pressure on China is the only route to getting the North Korean regime under control, is warning China that if it doesn’t help rein in the Kim regime, it risks rousing the Samurai “warrior nation” of Japan from its pacifist slumber.

The U.S. military meanwhile is warning that only a ground invasion of North Korea can secure the rogue regime’s missile and thermonuclear threat against the U.S. and its allies.

But Trump has undercut both his security and trade efforts in East Asia by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in favor of inferior bilateral treaties that none of the other East Asian countries want.

Click here to go to yesterday’s Founders Broadsheet (“Saudi Crown Prince crushes coup threat, international implications”)