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foreign policy/relations

Friday 26th of April 2024

2020 Presidential election But if we re-elect him, knowing what a norm-destroying, divisive, corrupt liar he is, then the world will not treat the last four years as an aberration. It will treat them as an affirmation that w've changed. The world will not just look at America differently, but at Americans  differently. And with good reason. Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times, October 29, 2020 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Afghanistan War At each point in the post-9/11 story big US decisions have been based on conditions on the ground — the ground in Washington, that is. citation Edward Luce, Financial Times, August 17, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Autocrats say The one that matters is me. I'm the only one that matters. Because when it comes [to] it, that's what the policy is going to be. Donald Trump, when asked about his administration's failure to staff the State Department with people having expertise in foreign countries © 2017 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say The president's very committed to the Middle East peace process. Rex Tillerson, after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, thereby inflaming America's allies and Muslims worldwide © 2017 Kwiple.com
Bullshitters say Every time I talk with a foreign leader, I put American interests first, just as I did with President Zelensky. Donald Trump, letter to Nancy Pelosi, Dec. 17, 2019 © 2019 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Amount that North Korea owes New York City in parking tickets: $152,505 That Egypt owes: $1,989,554   Harper's Index, December 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
China Our economic relationship with China, like our broader relationship with China, will be competitive where it should be, collaborative where it can be, and adversarial where it must be. Janet Yellen, April 5, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
China To be in Washington is to sense a nation sliding into open-ended conflict against China with eerily little debate. Politicians who can be counted on to dispute the colour of the sky or the sum of two plus two are of a piece on the necessity of a superpower duel. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, July 15, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Cocks of the walk say  I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I've said a lot of things. Donald Trump, whose experience of the world is being deeply indebted to Russians, playing at his golf courses overseas, and staying in hotel suites with waterproof sheets, when asked who he consults with about foreign policy © 2017 Kwiple.com
Conservatives Yet the “optimistic conservatism” of the fin de siècle [Anne Applebaum's term for 1990s Republicans] was the outlook that brought us the invasion of Iraq, the legitimation of torture,  and the unprecedented, unconstitutional expan-  sion of executive power under Bush and Cheney. In league with liberal interventionists, these “energetic, reformist, and generous” conservatives [Applebaum's description] ushered in the calamitous policy of regime change – a euphemism that conflates imperial ambition with “ambition to share [American] democracy with the rest of the world.” In this context, sharing is a bad joke. The regime changers are in effect saying, You know you want to be like us, and if you don't, we have the guns to persuade you. Jackson Lears, NY Rev. of Books, Jan. 14, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus America's abdication of leadership is an act of self harm, which threatens to make it an object of mockery. There are no do-overs on pandemics. Mr Trump's response to the coronavirus is worse than a crime. It is a mistake. Edward Luce, Financial Times, March 26, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus The cost of Covid can also be measured in damage to global psychology, including a form of diplomatic long Covid. The world's superpower and its rising great power are both now working from home and nourishing paranoia about each other. When we look back on Covid that may be its biggest cost. Edward Luce, Financial Times, March 1, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus  Ignoring common sense never used to be an anglophone stereotype. What separates the US and the UK from other democracies is extravagant self-belief. Half a millennium of potted history tells Anglo-Americans they are destined always to be on the winning side.  It blinds both to how the rest of the world increasingly views them, which is with sadness and growing mockery.  Edward Luce, Financial Times, July 9, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
COVID-19 coronavirus A superpower — or its reputation at least — had been slain by a virus. Richard Horton, The COVID-19 Coronavirus  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads say So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come! Donald Trump, 2:53 AM - 18 JUL 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Dead-in-the-heads This irregular channel of diplomacy, it's not as outlandish as it could be – is that correct? Steve Castor, Republican's chief counsel at the impeachment inquiry into Trump, to William Taylor, Acting Ukraine Ambassador © 2019 Kwiple.com
Foreign policy For the fourth or fifth time in my life, America is said to be on the verge of something called “isolationism”. The record, by contrast, tells us to expect another show of force in some remote trouble spot or other by mid-decade. Go with the record. … Fusing the worst of the right (aggression) with the worst of the left (righteousness), the itch to intervene is at least cross-partisan. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, September 7, 2021 [Ganesh was born in 1982] © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign policy Foreign policy, after all, is not cartography. It's orienteering – racing madly through dangerous, unknown territory.  And theorists aren't mapmakers, they're coaches; their job is to help players race better.  Maps provide crucial information,  but the players have to use them out in the field, trying to move as fast as possible relative to others without getting hurt. Offered two bad maps, smart players wouldn't pick one or toss both. They'd take both along and put them to use. Policymakers should do the same, carrying both realist and liberal maps of the world with them as they go, filtering and combining them as possible. Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign policy Human rights is the soul of our foreign policy. Jimmy Carter © 2023 Kwiple.com
Foreign policy Level whatever criticisms you may about the often bloodstained hands of the American colossus on the world stage, but Trump's foreign policy was different: shortsighted, transactional, mecurial, untrustworthy, boorish, personalist, and profoundly illiberal in rhetoric, disposition and creed. Jonathan Kirshner, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Alliances are predicated on reliability and predictability, and no ally is likely to view the United States as it did before. Seeds of doubt have been sown: if it could happen once, it could happen again. It is difficult to regain a throne after abdicating it. Richard Haass, Foreign Affairs, September/October 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations c America is behaving like the Soviet Union, and China is behaving like the United States. Kishore Mahbubani, Has China Won? © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Americans and Chinese remind me of Israelis and Palestinians in one respect: They are both expert at aggravating the other's deepest insecurities. Thomas Friedman, New York Times, April 14, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations c An unchallenged US is a divided US. It follows that America's best hope of retaining some cohesion in the coming decades is a mighty China. What is disastrous for its relative power in the world might turn out to be a godsend for its internal cohesion. Decline has its uses. … The US requires two things of an enemy: vast scale (to induce fear) and a different model of government (for a sense of otherness). The absence of the first is why al-Qaeda turned out to be such a fleeting adhesive after the September 11, 2001 atrocities. … As to the second condition, boom-era Japan, a fellow democracy, lacked it and so never crossed from daunting commercial rival to nation-binding enemy. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, 2021/02/16 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Assassination is not a foreign policy headline, Gideon Rachman column, Financial Times print edition, January 7, 2020 [online headline: “America should drop the ‘Dr Evil fallacy’ on assassination”] © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations c Biden supposedly values allies. Europe’s chagrin is that Biden could have fulfilled both vows [ending forever wars and rebuilding alliances] if he had closely consulted with them on his Afghan exit. He chose not to. The fact that Nato was there at America’s behest rubbed salt into the wound. The 9/11 attacks marked the only time Nato has invoked its Article V mutual defence clause — following an assault on America, not Europe. Edward Luce, Financial Times, August 24, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Distant water cannot put out a nearby fire. Chinese and Vietnamese proverb used across Asia to express doubts about America's reliability as an ally © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations The entire foreign policy is based on a single unstable individual's reaction to perceptions of slights or flattery. If someone says something nice about him, they are our friend; if they say something unkind, they are our enemy. Henry Kissinger on the Trump's foreign policy © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations From this day forward, it's going to be only America first. Donald Trump, Inaugural speech, January 20, 2017 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations The hard-liners [in Reagan's administration] felt that foreign policy and covert operations were an exclusively presidential domain. “The business of Congress is to stay the [expletive] out of my business” is how Reagan's first C.I.A. director, William Casey, put it in an interview with the political scientist Loch K. Johnson. Mattathias Schwartz, New York Times Magazine, June 7, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Hugh Barrera, an ARENA contender for the presidency, told Laurie Becklund of The Los Angeles Times  when she asked  in April of 1982 if ARENA did not fear losing American aid by trying to shut the Christian Democrats out of the government, “Congress would not risk losing a whole country over one party. That would be turning against a U.S. ally and encouraging Soviet intervention here. It would not be intelligent.” In other words, “anti-communism” was seen, correctly, as the bait the United States would always take. Joan Didion, Salvador [ARENA is a right-wing party in El Salvador] © 2017 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations I love the Bangles! You know that song Walk Like an Egyptian? Donald Trump, on being told the president of Egypt called to congratulate him on becoming president © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations If you have an American president at foreign summits eating with his mouth closed and not throwing cutlery around, the world will give him a standing ovation. Unnamed Biden adviser quoted by Edward Luce, Financial Times, August 13, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway. Sarah Sanders, 12:51 PM - 19 Jul 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations c Israel secretly authorized a group of cyber-surveillance firms to work for the government of Saudi Arabia despite international condemnation of the kingdom's abuse of surveillance software to crush dissent, even after the Saudi killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, government officials and others familiar with the contracts said. New York Times, July 17, 2021 [The firms involved are NSO, Candiru, Cellebrite, Nerint and Quadream] © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations It is no accident that Carter's  first state visit as president was to Poland. Unfortunately, his interpreter mangled his words. Carter said that he was glad to be in Poland and wished to have close relations with its people. It came out as saying that he had left America for good and wanted to have sex with locals. Poles did not seem to mind. Edward Luce, Financial Times, Februry 22, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Jaw, jaw, is better than war, war. Harold Macmillan © 2020 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations The list of democratically elected governments overthrown and leaders assassinated by the CIA, not to mention its failed attempts to accomplish those goals, is long—consider Iran, Guatemala, Cuba, Congo, Vietnam, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Iraq, Venezuela. Then there is the shorter but still impressive list of countries that the US has reduced to rubble and social chaos – North Korea, Vietnam (again), Iraq, Libya. Everybody does not do this; the United States does, which is why global surveys repeatedly have shown that the US is widely believed to be the greatest threat to global peace. Jackson Lears, NY Rev. of Books, Jan. 14, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Foreign relations Today, hopes of a co-operative global economic order, which reached their zenith at the G20’s London summit of April 2009, have evaporated. Yet it is hardly a case of “Goodbye G20, hello G7”. The earlier world of G7 domination is even  more remote than that of G20 co-operation. Neither global co-operation nor western domination look feasible. What might follow? Alas, “division” might be one answer and “anarchy” another. Martin Wolf, Financial Times, May 23, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Ignorance I'm ready for the ‘gotcha’ questions, and they're already starting to come. And when they ask me who is the President of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan, I'm going to say, you know, I don't know. And do you know? And then I'm going to say, How's that going to create one job? Herman Cain, during 2000 Republican presidential primaries © 2023 Kwiple.com
Japan The Japanese, when they negotiate with us, they have long faces. But when the negotiations are over, it is my belief–I've never seen this– they laugh like hell. Donald Trump, 1988 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Donald Trump is making anti-Americanism reasonable and respectable  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Shitcan our military ambitions or reintroduce the draft © 2017 Kwiple.com
Lame-ass excuse  I'm shocked I said that.  It was a misstatement.  It was simply wrong.  I got countries mixed up. Peter Hoekstra, new U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, apologizing after being unable to give Dutch journalists any example proving his claim that “The Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they put Europe into chaos. Chaos in the Netherlands. There are cars being burned. There are politicians that are being burned … and yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands”, which he said was “fake news” before they showed him a video of him making the claim, after which he denied having said it was “fake news,” which caused a national outbreak of chortling © 2018 Kwiple.com
Leadership If leaders believe the future  looks unfavorable, they will be tempted to  take risky actions in the present to forestall further decline, which can lead to  arms races and brinkmanship during crises. In contrast, optimistic leaders foresee a brighter future ahead for their country which tends to produce investments in global governance. Daniel W. Drezner, Foreign Affairs, July/Augsut 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Power Although they have amassed immense power and wealth, Putin and his immediate circle remain intensely resentful of the way in which the Soviet Union, Russia and their own service [the KGB] collapsed in the 1990s — and  great power mixed with great resentment is one of the most dangerous mixtures in both domestic and international politics. Anatol Lieven, Financial Times, March 11, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say COLOR US UNIMPRESSED: The world heard even harsher bluster a few months ago. And Iranians have heard them –albeit more civilized ones– for 40 yrs. We've been around for millennia & seen fall of empires, incl our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. BE CAUTIOUS! Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, 3:04 PM - Jul 23, 2018,  responding to TRUMP'S ALL CAPS TWEET of 8:24 PM - 22 Jul 2018, in which he threatened Iran with nuclear war © 2018 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say It's not a fraternity any more. Madeleine Albright responding to Henry Kissinger, a former Secretary of State, who called to congratulate her on becoming America's first female Secretary of State and said, “Welcome to the fraternity” © 2022 Kwiple.com
Racism America's internal schisms are being used against it, and used well, with the soft touch and irony that autocrats are meant to lack. But then there is so much to work with. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, June 3, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Racists say Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here? Donald Trump, asking about immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries  at a White House meeting on immigration, where he also suggested we should bring in more people from countries like Norway © 2018 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Abdicating global leadership in a fit of petulance is change we believe in © 2017 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Don't trust the United States to stick to its agreements Kelly Ayotte Chuck Grassley Rob Portman John Barrasso Orrin Hatch Jim Risch Roy Blunt Dean Heller Pat Roberts John Boozman John Hoeven Mike Rounds Richard Burr Jim Inhofe Marco Rubio Bill Cassidy Johnny Isakson Ben Sasse John Cornyn Ron Johnson Tim Scott Tom Cotton Mark Kirk Jeff Sessions Mike Crapo James Lankford Richard Shelby Ted Cruz Mike Lee Dan Sullivan Steve Daines John McCain John Thune Mike Enzi Mitch McConnell Thom Tillis Joni Ernst S. Moore Capito Pat Toomey Deb Fischer Jerry Moran David Vitter Cory Gardner Rand Paul Roger Wicker Lindsey Graham David Perdue © 2015 Kwiple.com
Republicans say  Elevating hard power over soft power is change we believe in © 2017 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Make Israel's Iran policy ours Kelly Ayotte Chuck Grassley Rob Portman John Barrasso Orrin Hatch Jim Risch Roy Blunt Dean Heller Pat Roberts John Boozman John Hoeven Mike Rounds Richard Burr Jim Inhofe Marco Rubio Bill Cassidy Johnny Isakson Ben Sasse John Cornyn Ron Johnson Tim Scott Tom Cotton Mark Kirk Jeff Sessions Mike Crapo James Lankford Richard Shelby Ted Cruz Mike Lee Dan Sullivan Steve Daines John McCain John Thune Mike Enzi Mitch McConnell Thom Tillis Joni Ernst S. Moore Capito Pat Toomey Deb Fischer Jerry Moran David Vitter Cory Gardner Rand Paul Roger Wicker Lindsey Graham David Perdue © 2015 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Others' gains are our losses © 2018 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Rattle our sabers © 2015 Kwiple.com
Republicans say Soft power? We don't need no soft power. We don't have to show you any stinking soft power. © 2017 Kwiple.com
Republicans say  Undermining multilateral institutions is change we believe in © 2017 Kwiple.com
Resisters say Welcome home, traitor Chant outside the White House gate on Trump's return from the Helsinki summit © 2018 Kwiple.com
Russia The memo … which did not surface publiicly with the others … is based on one source described as “a senior Russian official.” The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he'd heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had inter- vened to block Trump's initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney. … The memo said that the Kremlin, through un- specified channels, had asked Trump to appoint someone who would be prepared to lift Ukraine-related sanctions, and who would cooperate on security issues of inter- est to Russia, such as the conflict in Syria. Jane Mayer, New Yorker, March 12, 2018, on a Nov. 2016 memo by Christopher Steele © 2018 Kwiple.com
Selfie I did as well as I could for as long as I could. When my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with our allies, no longer resonated, it was time to resign. James Mattis, Trump's former Secretary of Defense © 2019 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say  I never knew we had so many countries. Donald Trump © 2017 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say It is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so– because, over the long term, the goal of those who think that international law really means anything are those who want to constrain the United States. John Bolton © 2018 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say Whoever follows Trump in office will make America great again in the eyes of the world © 2018 Kwiple.com
Sleepers at the wheel say  You've restored American credibility on the world stage. Mike Pence, third of the fourteen praises he lavished on Donald Trump in less than three minutes at the Cabinet meeting on December 20, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot The joke goes that Mr Bolton never met a war he did not like. That may be an understatement. Mr Trump's new national security adviser rarely sees a peaceful entanglement that could not be improved by artillery. John Bolton portrayed by Edward Luce © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Mr Bolton has no patience for US democracy promotion, which gels with Mr Trump's worldview. Contrary to popular opinion, Mr Bolton is not a neoconservative. Neocons believe US values should be universal. Mr Bolton believes in aggressive promotion of the US national interest, which is quite different. John Bolton portrayed by Edward Luce © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch.  Anastasio Somoza García, Nicaraguan dictator, portrayed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt © 2021 Kwiple.com
Snapshot The president has first and foremost his interests at the top of his mind, as opposed to the government's. That's very clear over the past week and a half, between shitting on our NATO allies and kissing Putin's ass. He cares more about himself than the nation and any of us who serve it. Either he's compromised by Putin or he's a pussy, in which case he should grab himself. Donald Trump portrayed by a former CIA analyst quoted by DailyBeast, July 18, 2018, after reports Trump was considering Putin's request to send anti- Putin Americans to Russia for interrogation © 2018 Kwiple.com
Snapshot  Trump is susceptible to such giveaways, not only because he is ignorant, but because he does not see himself as the president of the United States. He sees himself as the president of his base. And because that's the only support he has left, he feels the need to keep feeding his base by fulfilling crude, ill-conceived promises he threw out to them during the campaign. Donald Trump portrayed by Thomas Friedman, referring to Trump's having given China and Israel what they wanted most (scrapping TPP and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital) while getting nothing in return © 2017 Kwiple.com
Snapshot The leader of the world's most powerful country is a dangerous ignoramus. Donald Trump portrayed by Martin Wolf © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union Another Pew [Research Center] survey, published in June, showed that the prevalence of favourable views of America has fallen in 30 out of 37 countries since Barack Obama left office. The only country in which views of America have improved markedly is Russia, where 41% now see it favourably, up from 15%. The Economist, November 15, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
State of the union Envoys in Washington compare the Trump children to princes and princesses in a royal court. That is a bit unfair to princes: such modern examples as William and Harry in Britain talk of duty, of humility, and of shunning politics precisely because they are unelected. The Economist, July 15, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
State of the union So let me repeat: The combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American dream, our way of life, and what we stand for around the globe. And it is not simply a moral claim I'm making here. There are practical consequences to rising inequality and reduced mobility. Barack Obama, 2013 © 2019 Kwiple.com
Surely you jest Tomorrow is the anniversay of the D-Day invasion. We obviously have a very long history with the government of Germany, and we have a strong relationship with the government of Germany.  Heather Nauert, June 5, 2018, State Department spokesperson,  invoking D-Day in reaffirming the strength  of US-Germany relations after the US envoy to Germany made remarks that angered many Germans --> © 2018 Kwiple.com
State of the union The world is moving on from American hegemony. It is not moving on from the American spectacle. Janan Ganesh, Financial Times, July 1, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpism No Friends, No Enemies Trump Doctrine defined by an unnamed “a senior administration official” quoted in The Atlantic, June, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpism Permanent destabilization created American advantage Trump Doctrine defined by an unnamed “senior national security official” quoted in The Atlantic, June, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpism The presidency and dishonesty have become synonymous. Alliances are founded on trust. When that goes, they begin to dissolve. Roger Cohen, New York Times, October 29, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Trumpism Put diplomatically, during Trump's tenure in office, the United States ceased to be the so-called leader of the free world. Put more bluntly, large parts of the Trump administration  effectively defected to the autocratic camp. Yascha Mounk, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Trumpism “There's definitely a Trump Doctrine.” What is it? I asked. Here is the answer I received: “The Trump Doctrine is, ‘We're America, Bitch.’ That's the Trump Doctrine.” Jeffrey Goldberg, quoting a “senior White House official with direct access to the president and his thinking” in The Atlantic, June, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpism  The sheep are leaving the shepherd. Edward Luce, Financial Times, June 7, 2018, on the effects of Trump's policies on America's long-standing allies  © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say I can't tell you how excited and enthusiastic folks are about the United States leadership as it relates to global health security. Tom Price, after returning from health summit meetings in Europe © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Nobel! Nobel! chant at Trump rallies after he met with Kim Jong-un in Singapore © 2018 Kwiple.com
< Trumpists say Putin's FANTASTIC counter-offer: He'll turn over the alleged Russian spies, if U.S. turns over: thieving oligarchs, Mueller & Strzok. ("law enforcement officials") Ann Coulter, 8:45 AM - 16 Jul 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door. And that's what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That's what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did, and that comes right from Air Force One. Peter Navarro, Trump's trade adviser, kvetching about Canada's Prime Minisiter, who, after Trump fled the G7 Summit to meet with Kim Jong-un, held a press conference in which he promised retaliation for imposing tariffs on Canadian goods and calling Canada a threat to America's national security © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say You can't possibly not feel as a citizen of the world that his negotiations with North Korea are much more significant than this totally garbage investigation. Rudy Giuliani, claiming Trump has more important things to do than testify to Mueller's team about possible collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice © 2018 Kwiple.com
Trust The new, new thing has a lot to do with the increasingly important role that trust, and its absence, plays in international relations, now that so many goods and services that the United States and China sell to one another are digital, and therefore dual use — meaning they can be both a weapon and a tool.  Just when trust has become more important than ever between the U.S. and China, it also has become scarcer than ever. Bad trend. Thomas Friedman, New York Times, April 14, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
 
Trust What America essentially told … rising Chinese high-tech firms, was this: “When Chinese companies were just selling us shallow goods [single-use products like “shoes, socks, shirts and solar panels”], we didn’t care if your political system was authoritarian, libertarian or vegetarian; we were just buying your shallow goods. But when you want to sell us ‘deep goods’— goods that are dual use and will go deep into our homes, bedrooms, industries, chatbots  and urban infrastructure — we don't have enough trust to buy them. So, we are going to ban Huawei and instead pay more to buy our 5G telecom systems from Scandinavian companies we do trust: Ericsson and Nokia.”  Thomas Friedman, New York Times, Apr. 14, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com