It appears our Fearless Leader is going ahead with imposing trade tariffs on our allies in the EU, UK, Mexico and Canada, while simultaneously relaxing trade disputes with China. Well, to be honest with you, I don’t have the President’s ear, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that this policy is somehow connected to and influenced by the supposed assistance we are getting from the Chinese regarding our disputes with North Korea.

Meanwhile, the Chinese continue to fortify and expand their island naval and air bases in the S China Sea, an action which threatens and intimidates our commercial and military allies in Japan, S Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the SE Asian sea lanes and trade routes and choke points between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. This is the new “Silk Road” the Chinese are trying to set up to squeeze the West out of world trade. Meanwhile, the Russians are setting up their own Northern Route through the Arctic Ocean, after the ice melts. They’re already putting in the infrastructure.

Read your Mahan and Mackinder, Mr Trump. Its called the World Island, and we don’t control the middle of it any more. And while you’re at it, learn how to read a map–or better, a globe. It gives you a more undistorted view. The world is not a rectangle, its a sphere.