They Really Don’t Care

What did we think was going to happen with John Bolton as the National Security Adviser?  They really don’t care.  The lessons of the Iraq War really don’t matter.  I read the paper this morning and had a heart sinking feeling, watching Trump’s cabinet actively trying to manufacture a war.  We all learned what happened with “Remember the Maine” or the Gulf of Tonkin, and certainly most of humanity remembers Colin Powell’s disgraceful case for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  Here we are again.  Bolton, Pompeo truly believe that if they try to overthrow the democracy of Iran, the U.S. will be better for it and the rest of our allies will quietly go along with it.  They believe that America isn’t in its stride if goes to long without an intentional war.

In the same front page, we have made the unprecedented move of using state power to kill a successful foreign company, when they haven’t been proven to have committed any crimes.  This is simply hearsay, and accusations from people like Lindsay Graham.  Who has proven that Huawei will use its technology to commit espionage or can?  The British and the Germans and half a dozen other countries who use Huawei technology do have not come out publicly to say they also see the tech as a risk.  Certainly, there is room for debate and due process.  But this was preemptive, unilateral, and feels like war, by another means.

I saw a Twitter post from Li Yuan of the Wall St. Journal that linked an article and suggested “Tom Friedman and Steve Bannon agree on China.  What more does the Chinese leadership need to know about U.S. sentiment towards China.”   We who have been living the U.S. China relationship for the last few decades are always cognizant that there will be “speed bumps” ahead and while we were in a bad place last December, January, this feels like it is hardening into something worse. 

Chinese agree that Huawei is being destroyed, without cause and that America is willfully holding back their economy.  Americans all seem to agree that China’s path to economic prosperity has been secured at their expense.  Xi may well have backed himself in a corner with the last- minute adjustments to the Chinese negotiating posture.  Perhaps it was well thought out, perhaps they simply miscalculated.  And now we are left relying on the instincts of a mendacious blowhard, who doesn’t bother with the details, and seems to have found his moment with all Americans, by escalating economic pugilism with China.  So, we wonder, how much worse, for how long?  The history of the last century suggests it could be very long and very bad, indeed. 

Friday, 5/17/19