“America First” is the headline given to today’s Donald Trump foreign policy speech as delivered.  However, many pundits are automatically assigning that reference position to the prior non-interventionist approach held prior to WWII.  This projection is factually false.
“America First” is simply that, a view, a perspective, a filtering prism of consideration for the U.S. role in the world by first thinking strategically about our own national interests.

There’s big business, big money, and big economic globalist influence swirling around all matters of modern U.S. foreign policy.
Few people, and almost no-one in the world of corporate media punditry, really take the conversation high enough to grasp the ultimate ends of any military aspect to foreign policy.  Candidate Donald Trump is the first leader in our lifetime to grasp how economic interests have merged with, and infiltrated the engagement policies of, the U.S. military.
Secondly, the same corporate media who are entwined in the economics of globalization, have been selling a false narrative about Secretary Hillary Clinton.  According to the media Secretary Clinton’s strength is ‘foreign policy’; this is pure professional gaslighting.
Hillary Clinton is more vulnerable on her failed tenure as America’s top diplomat than any other aspect of her presidential bid. (more…)

How dare he.  Just, well, how dare he.  That’s the takeaway sense you get when you review the New York Times framing of a two hour ‘on-the-record’ interview with Donald Trump referencing a world-view and foreign policy outlook.
It is refreshing, and it is bizarre we can even use the word “refreshing“, to see an American candidate for the American Presidency, say their goal is to actually put America-first in all policy decisions.
It’s not protectionism, it’s patriotism.
It’s not isolationism, it’s common sense.
Almost all of Europe and most of Asia are capable of spending Trillions of dollars on their infrastructure, Airports, bullet-trains, high-speed rail, bridges, ‘Chunnels’, and the list goes on…. quite simply because they don’t spend much on their own national defense, and prefer to hide behind our military apron when needed.
To pay for this enomorus international military/police force, and overly generous commitment, we, in turn, put ourselves into debt and can’t spend on our own domestic needs.   This is not international economic theory, it’s a reality – and for the first time in decades a politician is saying enough is enough.   Charity begins at home!
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Stunningly, Piers Morgan pens an Op-Ed in the Daily Mail today asking: ‘when are people going to begin listening to Donald Trump about Islamic Terrorism’ (link).  However, Morgan stops short of explaining why Trump’s proposals make more sense than anyone else.

For decades the Western World, and the U.S. specifically, have approached The Islamic Jihad as a problem the non-Islamic local and global community can solve. If only we can attract enough Muslim allies to join us in the ideological fight.

It doesn’t work.

The emphasis is on the wrong syllable.

It’s time for a reset.

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In the run-up to the 2012 presidential election President Obama was quick to dismiss the growing threat of ISIS as a “junior varsity team”.

However, in 2016 with no reelection needed, a rather stark and somber forecast is delivered by the Department of National Intelligence head, James Clapper.

Prior to delivering testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, James Clapper submitted a summary of intelligence analytics describing the scope of threat. (more…)

There’s no way these media reports are accidental or not directly connected.  And none of this looks the least bit good against the larger dynamic of the Syrian crisis and President Stompy Feet’s prior position on ISIS.

Yesterday, well, actually Friday, the release of the information was yesterday, Vice-President Joe Biden met in Turkey with President Recep Erdogan.  They met for several hours as reported in The Hill and the topic was an escalated U.S./Turkish military footprint against ISIS :

Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday said the U.S. and regional ally Turkey are prepared to seek a military solution in Syria to try to solve the nation’s five-year-long civil war.

Speaking after a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, Biden stressed that a political solution to the problem would still be preferable.

“But we are prepared if that’s not possible to having a military solution to this operation and taking out Daesh,” he said, according to AFP, using another name for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

(more…)

It is a good thing, a great thing, the U.S. hostages/prisoners are being released.  However, to find out that President Obama and John Kerry allowed the hostages to be used as leverage to block sanctions – is a little disappointing. 

The day before new sanctions were due to be implemented, Iran told the U.S. the fate of the prisoners was dependent on no new sanctions. Kerry agreed.

As with all other strategic decisions from this administration our adversaries only need to consider the political benefits of President Obama in their counter-strategy.  Knowing the White House only makes deals based on political best interests, gives our adversaries a significant structural advantage in how they approach negotiations. 

(Via Reuters)  The day before the Obama administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry the move could derail a prisoner deal the two sides had been negotiating in secret for months.

Kerry and other top aides to President Barack Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, convened a series of conference calls and concluded they could not risk losing the chance to free Americans held by Tehran. (more…)

Following the arrest and detention of ten U.S. military sailors in the Persian Gulf, Iran releases a propaganda video showing our soldiers humiliated and on their knees.  The video is being broadcast through out Iran and the larger Middle-East with the message of how the Iranian Revolutionary Guard made the U.S. military cower. 

Hillary Clinton and President Obama have both (falsely) stated that ISIS uses video of republican candidates to generate recruitment efforts for radical jihad.  What exactly do you think the Islamic recruitment value is for footage of U.S. military cowering?

(two videos follow BBC outline)  The US has apologised to Iran after 10 American sailors were arrested for entering Iranian waters, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards naval forces has said.

General Ali Fadavi accused those detained of “unprofessional” acts.  But he suggested the group, who are being held by the guards, could be released soon. (more…)

BREAKING:  So Much for Obama’s appeasement approach toward Iran.  Two small U.S. naval vessels containing 10 U.S. Military service members were traveling from Kuwait to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. Navy lost contact with the vessels after the Iranian Navy intercepted the two boats and detained the sailors.

Early reports are the U.S. Navy members are in good health and negotiations are underway to secure their release.  The incident took place near Farsi Island. Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian counterpart to try to resolve the matter.  The Iranian government has initially refused to release our soldiers – they will not be released tonight.

Here’s an image of what type of vessels the U.S. military were using.  Riverine Boats:

AP Has Outline – […]   Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. (more…)

A long (two part) interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and republican candidate Donald Trump.

The first segment includes topics of North Korea, China and Ted Cruz’s eligibility:

Part two includes issue topic of Saudi Arabia and the middle-east: (more…)

President Obama pressured/threatened all Democrats and UniParty membership Republicans to support his Iranian Nuclear Deal, they did.  Now Iran violates the deal, sanctions should be applied, but the White House says – meh, violations… no biggie.

(Via Washington Free Beacon) A last minute delay last week in the implementation of new Iran sanctions has some prominent congressional backers of the nuclear deal accusing the Obama administration of capitulating to Iranian demands, according to sources both on and off Capitol Hill.

Senior Obama administration officials at the White House’s National Security Council told Congress Wednesday morning that new sanctions were coming as a result of Iran’s repeated ballistic missile tests, which violate current United Nations Security Council Resolutions prohibiting such activity. (more…)