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Adjutant
 
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Post 14 May 2017, 12:17 am

Think you will have a more nuanced view of Obama with regard to foreign policy after reading the following article. And he is light-years ahead of Trump with regard to knowledge of foreign policy...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... ne/471525/
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Post 14 May 2017, 2:13 pm

Thanks ... good article ... so, no doubt you've met smart people who have made bad decisions, and not so clever ones who made some very good ones?
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Post 14 May 2017, 2:35 pm

Obama is very smart but maybe he is bit too conscious of his intelligence. And he was very wrong in how he handled the red-line situation in Syria. And yes in answer to your question. You read that article and it's clear that Obama is very smart and knowledgeable but then he overthinks the credibility issue. Sometimes people who have a lot of intelligence and knowledge overthink options, whereas a person with greater social intelligence would have understood that he could not back down there. Some people who are not book smart have a better understanding of people than guys with PHDs and accordingly they make better decisions in certain situations. I should know..I am one of the book smart, low social IQ people.
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Post 14 May 2017, 7:17 pm

freeman3 wrote:Obama is very smart but maybe he is bit too conscious of his intelligence. And he was very wrong in how he handled the red-line situation in Syria. And yes in answer to your question. You read that article and it's clear that Obama is very smart and knowledgeable but then he overthinks the credibility issue. Sometimes people who have a lot of intelligence and knowledge overthink options, whereas a person with greater social intelligence would have understood that he could not back down there. Some people who are not book smart have a better understanding of people than guys with PHDs and accordingly they make better decisions in certain situations. I should know..I am one of the book smart, low social IQ people.


Yeah, me too ... I really have to work at it ... I think it's something that most of us have in common.
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Post 15 May 2017, 6:57 am

rayjay
Thanks ... good article ... so, no doubt you've met smart people who have made bad decisions, and not so clever ones who made some very good ones?

I trust this isn't a reference to the current President, or anything you think he's done well...
The Comey firing has eclipsed the coverage of Trumps interview with the Economist.

http://www.economist.com/Trumptranscript

The full transcript is above. Here's what a few reports of the interview had to say about the nuggets... Is this not terrifying?


https://www.vox.com/2017/5/11/15622900/ ... -interview

Regardless of the topic, the president has basically no idea what’s going on. And his staff has given up on trying to bring him up to speed. Instead, they take advantage of his ignorance to try to sell him on selective misinformation — or flattery from foreign leaders — to park policy outcomes where they would like to see them.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opin ... olumn.html
We've all been distracted by the bizarre turns of the FBI story. It shouldn't stop us from taking a moment to soak in the inescapable conclusion after reading this interview. Our country is being run by a nearly incoherent crank who surrounds himself with sycophants.



https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/do ... 15-a-month

Now, back to premiums. Trying to decipher exactly what Trump means is often a fool's errand, but this response seems to have several possible interpretations. Is Trump confusing health insurance with life insurance, which could cost a healthy, 20-something person about $15 a month, according to Mother Jones? Possibly.
Or maybe he thinks people pay $15 a month for health insurance right now, but that is demonstrably false. The average monthly premium for people buying their own insurance was $235.27 in 2013, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and many people's premiums have increased since then. But if it is $15 then why would premiums need to be lower, a point he's been hammering since the start of his campaign? He even parroted that line later in his response to the question about people losing coverage, saying: "We're going to have much lower premiums and we're going to have much lower deductibles."
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Post 15 May 2017, 1:11 pm

Ricky, please stop stalking me.
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Post 15 May 2017, 2:36 pm

Ray Jay wrote:Ricky, please stop stalking me.


?
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Post 16 May 2017, 5:41 am

bbauska wrote:
Ray Jay wrote:Ricky, please stop stalking me.


?


I'm very tired of Ricky trolling me no matter what I post. He basically posts the same stuff, more or less, no matter what the topic, to bait me to respond. But he's just repeating what he has already written and baiting me to rephrase or repeat what I have already written on other pages.
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Post 16 May 2017, 6:31 am

To be more explicit, as it relates to foreign policy, Trump has made many mistakes. However, he has done a few things well. By bombing Syria he has stopped the use of chemical weapons. He has also forced the players in the region to be mindful of US interests and possible reactions. The Russians, the Iranians, and the Syrians are all being more cautious now.

By arming the Kurds, in spite of Turkish objections, he is enabling more progress against ISIS. It's a long slog, but the Kurds have proven themselves to be good allies and effective fighters. Let the Turks and Russia focus on worrying about our interests and reactions as opposed to the other way around.

In addition, by putting North Korean nukes to the forefront, he has warned China that business as usual is not acceptable. I don't know where this will go, and whether we will be successful, but certainly putting your head in the sand while a madman acquires more effective ways to deliver his nuclear arsenal is a poor strategy.

As I've already mentioned, loosening US restrictions on oil drilling is a foreign policy winner. By keeping the price of oil down both now and in the future, we weaken certain adversaries, esp. Russia. Oil prices are partially driven by future expectations.

Finally, it's unclear to me who has orchestrated the latest developments among the gulf states and Israel, but I think it is to the good. The Gulf States are looking for an excuse to enable their working with Israel. They are asking Israel to give something to the Palestinians so that the Gulf states have cover to get Israeli assistance vis-à-vis Iran. Israel may freeze settlements if Palestinians stop supporting terrorism. Or maybe recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital will be the necessary inducement to stop settlement building. It's still in flux, but there may be some real positives that come out of this. (BTW, Russia recognized West Jerusalem as Israel's capital last month. No massive protests followed.)
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Post 16 May 2017, 7:03 am

Ray Jay wrote:
bbauska wrote:
Ray Jay wrote:Ricky, please stop stalking me.


?


I'm very tired of Ricky trolling me no matter what I post. He basically posts the same stuff, more or less, no matter what the topic, to bait me to respond. But he's just repeating what he has already written and baiting me to rephrase or repeat what I have already written on other pages.


Welcome to the club. I was concerned it went beyond the forum boards.
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Post 17 May 2017, 8:11 am

One thought I've had about Agent Orange but haven't shared to date is this:

I think the guy suffers from extreme ADD and ADHD. The articles you've posted here have solidified this theory for me.

This would explain a lot about what makes him tick. Mix in a little boredom, a massive ego and billions of dollars and you have a lab experiment gone horribly wrong.

Yet, no one has enjoyed watching the despicable liberal media reel over the fact that they lost the election to this man than me. And he wasn't even my candidate.

Ever since the orange man jumped in, we have received free entertainment. American politics is now a game show driven by media ratings.
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Post 17 May 2017, 9:35 am

Hmm....nah. "A man's got to know his limitations." Just because you are good at some things, does not mean you are good at every thing; just because you are smart does not mean you are better at doing something than someone else who has far knowledge and experience at doing; just because you are successful does not mean you are smarter, more knowledgeable and just better at doing everything than anyone else. As someone matures hopefully they realize that whatever level of success they have, or intelligence or knowledge they have, that they still have limitations.

And then there is Trump. If he was going to succeed as president when he was so poorly prepared them he had understand the things he was good at and find people who he trusts to fill in the gaps in knowledge with regard to areas he is weak in. Instead, we have this combination of an ill-prepared president with a horrible temperament. His success has fed a huge ego where he thinks he is better at doing things than people who have vastly more knowledge and experience; and he doesn't trust people to help him or trust their advice.

A man has got to know his limitations.
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Post 18 May 2017, 8:29 am

rayjay
By arming the Kurds, in spite of Turkish objections, he is enabling more progress against ISIS. It's a long slog, but the Kurds have proven themselves to be good allies and effective fighters. Let the Turks and Russia focus on worrying about our interests and reactions as opposed to the other way around
.
Not Just Turkish objections..

By Jacqueline Klimas - The Washington Times - Tuesday, June 16, 2015
The Senate stalemated Tuesday afternoon on the best strategy to fight the Islamic State, failing to approve an amendment that would allow the administration to go around the central Iraqi government and directly arm Kurdish forces.


However, because the Kurds are not a fully independent nation, the United States must coordinate these transfers through the Iraqi government in Baghdad. It’s not that they’re refusing to directly arm the Kurds, as Cruz says, though. It’s the law, required by the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act. Additionally, the United Nations prohibits transferring arms to Iraq other than on terms agreed to by the Iraqi government.

The State Department told us that the Iraqi government has approved all shipments and has even provided its own weapons to the Kurds.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter ... kurds-isi/

And here's the really funny thing...Turns out that Michael Flynn vetoed the direct arming of khurds whilst NSA.
Congress has been told the Obama administration wanted the incoming Trump administration to sign off on a Pentagon plan to retake ISIS stronghold Raqqa with Syrian Kurdish forces, because the operation would likely happen after Trump took office.
Then-President Barack Obama's national security adviser Susan Rice briefed Flynn, who according to the McClatchy report "didn't hesitate" to tell her to hold off.
One US official explained to CNN the Obama administration offered to green light arming the Kurds during the transition in order to spare Trump the fallout with Ankara. The official had the impression Trump's people vetoed it because they wanted to do their own strategic review. The official did not speak to Flynn's role in this.
That decision meant the operation -- which was ultimately approved by Trump -- was delayed by months.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/18/politics/ ... on-turkey/

Flynn was on Turkeys payroll.
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Post 18 May 2017, 8:33 am

freeman3
And then there is Trump.

is not just Trump. Most of his cabinet and team are also incompetent.

Pence was head of his transition team. Michael Flynn told the transition team that he was being investigated for illegal payments to him by the Turkish government.
And yet, Pence accepted Flynn as NSA.
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Post 18 May 2017, 8:42 am

RickyP,
Do you think the Kurds should, or should not be armed?