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Trump’s Travels |
| By
Stephen Lendman |
| He’s visiting Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday and Sunday, meeting with
rogue Arab and other Muslim heads of state plus at least six prime ministers. On May 22, he’ll meet with Netanyahu and other Israeli official in Jerusalem, the following day with Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. Then to Rome on Wednesday to meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican. On Thursday, he’s in Brussels at EU headquarters, meeting with European leaders, including one-on-one with Emmanuel Macron. Along with Defense Secretary Mattis, he’ll meet with NATO leaders, then Friday and Saturday in Sicily for a G7 summit before returning home. He should have emulated Nixon - either now or later go to Moscow, a step toward improving bilateral relations, despite strong bipartisan opposition. Responsible leadership takes courage, what Trump lacks, furthering America’s imperial agenda, serving Wall Street, Big Oil and other corporate predators exclusively at home - yet denigrated anyway. Whatever he does or doesn’t do, he’s criticized, so why not let it be for doing the right things, building a proud legacy, polar opposite of how he’s governing. Trump’s first foreign trip defines him - meeting with regional tyrants in Riyadh and Jerusalem, deplorable EU and NATO leaders in Brussels, then G7 ones in Sicily, with a side trip to see Pope Francis. As archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998, then cardinal in 2001, he was complicit in Argentina’s dirty war, waged to benefit wealth and power interests at the expense of social and political justice. Vatican history is ugly. Pope Francis maintains deplorable papal tradition. Progressive liberation theology supporting social justice is banned in Vatican City. The pontiff’s lofty rhetoric is hollow. Whatever the personal risks, America leads bold, responsible leadership - seeking world peace and stability, mutual cooperation with all nations, governance of, by and for everyone equitably - what’s entirely lacking in Washington, Trump part of the problem, not the solution. In Riyadh, he’ll finalize an enormous arms deal, totalling more than $100 billion, possibly exceeding $300 billion over the next decade - weapons for aggressive wars, mass slaughter and destruction, along with homeland repression, peace and stability off the table. In Israel, Brussels and Sicily, he’ll discuss Washington’s imperial agenda with rogue allies, nothing for responsibly turning a page, everything for deplorable continuity. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. |