Donald Trump appears to be incompetent in many areas especially in foreign affairs. His recent trip to the Middle East and Europe is prima facie evidence of bungling ineptness or so it would seem.
According to Michael T. Klare writing for TomDispatch by way of truthdig.com.
…Donald Trump is not only trying to obliterate the existing world order, but also attempting to lay the foundations for a new one, a world in which fossil-fuel powers will contend for supremacy with post-carbon, green-energy states.
The article is well worth reading for its analysis and insights, but I think Klare missed an important point.
His idea that Trump is trying to align the US with fossil-fuel producers Russia and Saudi Arabia (and all the states in their respective spheres) against the green states that include Germany, China and, I would include India, is becoming evident.
But I think to credit real estate developer and TV personality Trump with this idea is a mistake. Rather it seems to me that this policy shift has the fingerprints of Big Oil and the Koch brothers all over it. Trump has accepted into his campaign and then his administration influence, monies and many minions of the Kochtopus including most prominently Cory Lewandowski who was a national director of Americans for Prosperity, a Koch front group. Remember also, that Fred Koch, David and Charles’ father, built and trained the Russian petroleum industry during the Soviet era.
And don’t forget Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon Mobile who is now Trump’s Secretary of State.
So with Trump “in command” and the Kochtopus and Big Oil controlling his strings on foreign policy, the article illustrates just where our island home is headed,
One thing is clear: everyone on the planet will be affected by the ways in which such reshuffled alliances and rivalries will play out. A world dominated by petro-powers will be one in which oil is plentiful, the skies hidden by smog, weather patterns unpredictable, coastlines receding, and drought a recurring peril. The possibility of warfare is only likely to increase on such a planet, as nations and peoples fight over ever-diminishing supplies of vital resources, especially food, water, and arable land.
Check it out at TomDispatch.com