The Turtle House

This upcoming USA Presidential Election is, to me, as a foreigner, watching from a long way away, remarkably good television. We don't get a lot of good American television shows anymore.

I don't share the views of Doomsayers or most Western News broadcasters regarding America's descent into Hades with Trump as President simply because the powers of the President are quite limited when it comes to real change, as the Obama years have shown. 

Yes We Can! Simply ended up 8 years later as No We Can't!

ON ASIA: 

I think it would take Trump, as very much an Outsider, about 4 years to try to work out the US Government bureaucracies so I don't think more wars would be possible in that period.

I believe his policy of removing US troops from Asia and thus reversing Obama's Pivot To Asia would be very good for Asia, for peace in Asia, and would save America trillions of dollars. So on that point alone, and taking into account the fight he will have with the US bureaucracies, this could be a very peaceful time for the world indeed...something we haven't seen for decades.

Asian countries would HAVE TO work with their difficult neighbours and make real decisions and real bi-lateral arrangements with each other. As it is, all negotiations are stymied by most countries having to wait for the US to tell them what to do...Japan, South Korea, the Phillipines in particular.(At the moment the Phillipnes is pretty well annoyed with America telling them what to do with the US military bases there, and delving into Philippine domestic politics with a remarkable moral viciousness aimed at unseating the democratically elected government there).

ON THE MIDDLE EAST:

The fastest way to end a war is to lose it. The long hand of American administration of the Middle East is very very expensive and never has, can, or will bring back to the tax payers in the USA what is spent and wasted on bombing people with intelligent weapons and white phosphorous for their own good. If one is to invade a country, then one needs to colonised it for at least 50 years as the US did with Germany and Japan. Make it a semi-State of the Union...like Israel. You just can't go around destroying civilisations and expect to just go home. Not even the Romans were that silly.

ON AMERICAN DOMESTIC PROBLEMS:

The problems are real in terms of inequity, race and gross dissatisfaction and the best thing a new President could do would be to fix that up...and that will take a good decade, before dreaming of overseas conquest. Nations, and civilisations, do expand and do contract and the US is contracting. The best thing to do about reality is to first respect it...and then look to the core of the problem...Domestic USA...and do what is best for most Americans by number not by bank account wealth.

ON CLINTON AND SANDERS, I think it is a great shame that Bernie Sanders isn't the Democrats choice. With a contracting economy and a contracting world 'footprint' what America really needed was someone to do the good hard yard-work at home. Clinton isn't interested in that kind of deplorable job at all...that would be very much beneath her grace and dignity.