The Emperor’s New Clothes

The old children’s story and cautionary tale seems to be getting a bit of a makeover. At least as it applies to Iran and America’s foreign policy.

An interesting article states that Iran and America are both naked now, in that Iran’s power was and is an illusion generated by Washington’s handling of Iran. The author makes a very good case, and I will simply note that almost anyone with two neurons to form a synapse long ago figured out that Jimmah (we elected the wrong Carter) was terminally clueless and naked in terms of the article. Thank goodness only in those terms…

The idiocy of our Iran policy, starting with Chief Idiot Carter, is indeed now laid bare. It is clear that our past emperors had no clothes (or much of a clue) in their dealings with Iran.

Trump, however, has shown that he at least was clothed and had a clue. What’s more, he’s provided those smart enough to so what I think is an amazing wardrobe: The Trump Doctrine.

It really is very simple, having but two or three parts depending on how one outlines it. First, if you want peace, then we want peace and to engage in free trade beneficial to all. Second, if you kill an American, you will die. Third, if you use a proxy then both you and the proxy will die.

The complexity woven into it, however, is interesting. The first part stands a great deal of existing foreign policy on its head. Regime change? Not our job, that is up to the people of the nation in question (as it should be). Parts two and three may set up the conditions where an oppressed people can take matters into their own hands, but that is just a happy benefit of going back to an older take on treatment of our Citizens.

Free and fair trade is going to take more room and time than I have this morning. Trade is a way to reward, to the benefit of the populations of both countries. It can also be a carrot to encourage changes desired by the U.S. It can also be a way to assist regime change without having to employ troops. For a historical example that applies to some degree, look to the Dutch “Golden” island and it’s role in the American Revolution. Trade can also be a formidable weapon, as Trump has repeatedly shown over the last three years.

Parts two and three are, in my opinion, long overdue. There was a time where if you made it a point to harm American’s, there were repercussions. Look at the “War of Jenkin’s Ear.” I think the Marine’s have something about one or two places where they went for just that reason in a song of which they are rather fond.

There is much more to get into with the doctrine. For now, I would simply note that past American foreign policy as a whole, not just with Iran, has been shown to be naked per the article. There are already strong efforts underway to insist that this is not so, and that we must, simply must, return to that threadbare charade. With luck, that will not happen. We should make the most of this new clothing, armor really, that has been given to us.