Comments on: GLOBAL RESPECT FOR U.S. LEADERSHIP DROPPED SHARPLY UNDER TRUMP—THE OPPOSITE HAPPENED UNDER OBAMA https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: mcfly https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40917 mcfly Sun, 21 Jan 2018 01:15:40 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40917 Schoolyard bullies want to be feared...so it's hardly surprising that Trump and his supporters are all for it. Seeking mutual respect is a much more mature and desirable option, but that's apparently not how Trump sees any relationship, whether between people or nations. Schoolyard bullies want to be feared…so it’s hardly surprising that Trump and his supporters are all for it.

Seeking mutual respect is a much more mature and desirable option, but that’s apparently not how Trump sees any relationship, whether between people or nations.

]]> By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40916 hank Sat, 20 Jan 2018 19:31:27 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40916 much less do anything about it. The man's a bluffer, and his followers will not take kindly to the fact that despite his tough talk, he's not going to do anything about it. He's what the Chinese call a "paper tiger". There's a reason the Chinese are fortifying all those islands and reefs in the S China Sea; to provide maritime bases supported by land-based sea and air power to challenge the US 7th fleet, which is over-committed and stretched too thin in that part of the world. Have you been following how the recent accidents and collisions of US destroyers in the Pacific is evidence of severe lapses in training and maintenance of our forces in the area? Obama was trying to bolster our defenses and presence in that area with trade and military diplomacy, including negotiating with the Vietnamese to re-open our Navy base at Cam Ranh Bay. But Mr Trump has been too busy pushing his trade paranoia in that part of the world and has only succeeded in alienating all our allies there. I don't think the troubles in Korea and in the S China Sea are connected, but whatever eventually happens there, the Chinese will have a lot more options than we will. much less do anything about it. The man’s a bluffer, and his followers will not take kindly to the fact that despite his tough talk, he’s not going to do anything about it. He’s what the Chinese call a “paper tiger”.

There’s a reason the Chinese are fortifying all those islands and reefs in the S China Sea; to provide maritime bases supported by land-based sea and air power to challenge the US 7th fleet, which is over-committed and stretched too thin in that part of the world. Have you been following how the recent accidents and collisions of US destroyers in the Pacific is evidence of severe lapses in training and maintenance of our forces in the area?

Obama was trying to bolster our defenses and presence in that area with trade and military diplomacy, including negotiating with the Vietnamese to re-open our Navy base at Cam Ranh Bay. But Mr Trump has been too busy pushing his trade paranoia in that part of the world and has only succeeded in alienating all our allies there.

I don’t think the troubles in Korea and in the S China Sea are connected, but whatever eventually happens there, the Chinese will have a lot more options than we will.

]]> By: RobVG https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40915 RobVG Sat, 20 Jan 2018 16:41:18 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40915 https://www.vox.com/world/2017/12/28/16825434/trump-north-korea-oil-china --- http://freekorea.us/2017/11/09/china-cheats-on-the-coal-ban-again/#sthash.Ze1qvMzU.dpbs https://www.vox.com/world/2017/12/28/16825434/trump-north-korea-oil-china

—

http://freekorea.us/2017/11/09/china-cheats-on-the-coal-ban-again/#sthash.Ze1qvMzU.dpbs

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40914 RL Sat, 20 Jan 2018 05:43:34 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40914 And everyone here is painfully aware that you have refused to answer the simple questions that have been asked of you over and over: Do you think Trump is fit to be president? Do you still believe he isn't a racist? And everyone here is painfully aware that you have refused to answer the simple questions that have been asked of you over and over:
Do you think Trump is fit to be president?

Do you still believe he isn’t a racist?

]]> By: RobVG https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40913 RobVG Sat, 20 Jan 2018 04:27:32 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40913 I'd be careful of accusing someone of drinking if I were you. I’d be careful of accusing someone of drinking if I were you.

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40911 RL Sat, 20 Jan 2018 03:48:22 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40911 If they fear us, it is in the same way people fear a rabid dog... Our country's electoral process was interfered with, and the beneficiary of that interference has become a puppet of Russia... Our nation prospers not when it is feared, but when it is respected... the man you voted for demolished that respect, and has earned us global contempt. Only a coward believes it is better to be feared than respected. Do you think Trump has IMPROVED our position in the world? You know what sane people do to rabid dogs, don't you? If they fear us, it is in the same way people fear a rabid dog… Our country’s electoral process was interfered with, and the beneficiary of that interference has become a puppet of Russia… Our nation prospers not when it is feared, but when it is respected… the man you voted for demolished that respect, and has earned us global contempt.

Only a coward believes it is better to be feared than respected.
Do you think Trump has IMPROVED our position in the world?

You know what sane people do to rabid dogs, don’t you?

]]> By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40910 hank Sat, 20 Jan 2018 02:51:21 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40910 Trump is trying to build a 30,000 man army of anti-Assad Kurds there to prevent ISIS from making a comeback (and as an irritant to Syria) but Turkey sees those Kurds as terrorists and is already moving her forces up to the Syrian border and bombing and shelling across the line. Syria, in the meantime, is claiming that any Turkish planes crossing the border will be shot down. If a three sided war breaks out there, the American "training and support" cadres we are moving in to back up the Kurds will be caught in the middle, and we may wind up in a war fighting both a NATO ally, AND Syrian and Russian forces. Not that the Russians will even need to fight, just the idea of a US-Turkey conflict has probably got Putin giggling himself to sleep every night. If we pull out now, the Kurds, which have been doing all our fighting for us in Iraq and Syria and the only people in that part of the world that actually like us, will be massacred. Of course, we have a habit of abandoning our friends when things get hot (Saigon, Bay of Pigs), no one will be too surprised. If we stay, we have a good chance of losing all our people there, or at the very least, having to pull them out precipitously, abandoning our friends to an ugly fate ("Get all the palefaces out of there.") And you know Trump will not be bringing the Kurds here for shelter as refugees, they are Muslims, and you know how his base feels about them. Yeah, I agree, Obama misjudged the situation in Syria and got sand kicked in his face. But Trump didn't learn a thing from that debacle, and I think he's about to get his tit caught in a wringer. Big time. You Conservatives love tough guys "who don't take no shit". But those are just the guys who tend to bite off more than they can chew and wind up tripping on their dicks, if you don't mind me mixing my metaphors. Hitler got away with his tough guy, don't take no shit shtick in Europe, but eventually it caught up with him and he wound up overextended, humiliated, and crushed. Then his country was simultaneously raped from both East and West. Bluster can only get you so far, and I think Trump has already used all of his up. In WESTPAC, the Chinese are doing very little to help us there, (they are cheating like mad fuckers)and I think Trump has already paid a big economic(trade) and military (S China Sea) price for what little he got. As for the S Koreans, they are going to fold on us and leave us holding the bag. We don't have the suds on the peninsula (less than 30,000 men, of which only a fraction are combat troops) to fight the N unless we use nukes, and that would be catastrophic to everyone in the S as well. The S can and will fight for self-preservation, but not to back up any half-assed Trump tough guy plan. They are covering their own ass, regardless of what they are saying publicly, because they know The Americans simply cannot be counted on. Especially the ones with big mouths. Trump ain't no Truman. They're afraid he will fight to the last Korean, and then go home. Maybe I've got it figured all wrong, but at least I am thinking real hard about it. I'll bet my left nut the Trumpster isn't. His type thinks thinking is for sissies. Trump is trying to build a 30,000 man army of anti-Assad Kurds there to prevent ISIS from making a comeback (and as an irritant to Syria) but Turkey sees those Kurds as terrorists and is already moving her forces up to the Syrian border and bombing and shelling across the line. Syria, in the meantime, is claiming that any Turkish planes crossing the border will be shot down. If a three sided war breaks out there, the American “training and support” cadres we are moving in to back up the Kurds will be caught in the middle, and we may wind up in a war fighting both a NATO ally, AND Syrian and Russian forces. Not that the Russians will even need to fight, just the idea of a US-Turkey conflict has probably got Putin giggling himself to sleep every night.

If we pull out now, the Kurds, which have been doing all our fighting for us in Iraq and Syria and the only people in that part of the world that actually like us, will be massacred. Of course, we have a habit of abandoning our friends when things get hot (Saigon, Bay of Pigs), no one will be too surprised. If we stay, we have a good chance of losing all our people there, or at the very least, having to pull them out precipitously, abandoning our friends to an ugly fate (“Get all the palefaces out of there.”) And you know Trump will not be bringing the Kurds here for shelter as refugees, they are Muslims, and you know how his base feels about them.

Yeah, I agree, Obama misjudged the situation in Syria and got sand kicked in his face. But Trump didn’t learn a thing from that debacle, and I think he’s about to get his tit caught in a wringer. Big time.

You Conservatives love tough guys “who don’t take no shit”. But those are just the guys who tend to bite off more than they can chew and wind up tripping on their dicks, if you don’t mind me mixing my metaphors.

Hitler got away with his tough guy, don’t take no shit shtick in Europe, but eventually it caught up with him and he wound up overextended, humiliated, and crushed. Then his country was simultaneously raped from both East and West. Bluster can only get you so far, and I think Trump has already used all of his up.

In WESTPAC, the Chinese are doing very little to help us there, (they are cheating like mad fuckers)and I think Trump has already paid a big economic(trade) and military (S China Sea) price for what little he got. As for the S Koreans, they are going to fold on us and leave us holding the bag. We don’t have the suds on the peninsula (less than 30,000 men, of which only a fraction are combat troops) to fight the N unless we use nukes, and that would be catastrophic to everyone in the S as well. The S can and will fight for self-preservation, but not to back up any half-assed Trump tough guy plan. They are covering their own ass, regardless of what they are saying publicly, because they know The Americans simply cannot be counted on. Especially the ones with big mouths. Trump ain’t no Truman. They’re afraid he will fight to the last Korean, and then go home.

Maybe I’ve got it figured all wrong, but at least I am thinking real hard about it. I’ll bet my left nut the Trumpster isn’t. His type thinks thinking is for sissies.

]]> By: RobVG https://habitablezone.com/2018/01/18/global-respect-for-u-s-leadership-dropped-sharply-under-trump-the-opposite-happened-under-obama/#comment-40908 RobVG Sat, 20 Jan 2018 01:38:18 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=68881#comment-40908 It's better that some countries fear us than throw poo our way. Regarding syria, Obama drew a red line in the sand and Assad kicked sand in his face. He caved. This opened the door for Russia to support the rebels 'who we armed', even though we didn't know who the hell they were. Assad tried the same tactic with Trump. He and the Soviets wanted to test him. Well, after Assad gassed them again, Trump said something should be done, then he blew the crap out of their airfield. Trump's tough talk about NK has led to further sanctions. China quit lending them money. China cut imports from NK. And now, SK is crediting Trump with talks talks about Korean unification. It’s better that some countries fear us than throw poo our way. Regarding syria, Obama drew a red line in the sand and Assad kicked sand in his face. He caved. This opened the door for Russia to support the rebels ‘who we armed’, even though we didn’t know who the hell they were.

Assad tried the same tactic with Trump. He and the Soviets wanted to test him. Well, after Assad gassed them again, Trump said something should be done, then he blew the crap out of their airfield.

Trump’s tough talk about NK has led to further sanctions. China quit lending them money. China cut imports from NK. And now, SK is crediting Trump with talks talks about Korean unification.

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