The Fire This Time: Trump’s Scorched Earth Diplomacy Burns Asia

Boom! Trump’s China techwar takes out ZTE, as the major Chinese telecom equipment supplier is crushed by US penalties and closes its doors. Boom boom! Wut? Trump dumbfounds the US punditocracy by offering to walk those ZTE penalties back.
The good news is there’s an explanation for the craziness.


The bad news is that Trump’s craziness on China looks like bad news for Iran, the European Union and the world…and is as American as apple pie.
America has been cocooned in comforting myths concerning its Korea and Iran non-proliferation strategies.
But for America to get what it wants…and thinks it needs…on the Korean peninsula and in Iran requires a lot of betrayal, dirty work, a short memory, and a complete regard of long term consequences. That’s Donald Trump’s skill set. And it’s embarrassing to admit it, but that’s pretty much the way America usually does its foreign policy.
The reality of our intentions, methods, and goals is misunderstood and ignored by the same pundits and media outlets paid to explain it.
But China, Iran, and the Koreas haven’t forgotten, they see history repeating itself, and they’ve spent billions on strategies to neutralize the nonstop US quest for hegemony.
We’ll find out in the next few months how that’s working.