“I have worked in 60 countries, covered wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and spent much of 2014 living inside West Africa’s Ebola zone, a place gripped by fear and death,” the photojournalist Daniel Berehulak wrote in The Times last year. “What I experienced in the Philippines felt like a new level of ruthlessness: police officers’ summarily shooting anyone suspected of dealing or even using drugs, vigilantes’ taking seriously Mr. Duterte’s call to ‘slaughter them all.’”
Mr. Duterte is President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, now overseeing a campaign of mass murder. This weekend, President Trump continued his bonhomie with Duterte. The two had a “very friendly conversation” by phone, according to administration officials, and Trump invited Duterte to visit the White House...I’d encourage you to spend a few minutes understanding what’s happening in the Philippines under Duterte. It’s horrendous.The Democrats are implying it has to do with Trump's business interests in the Philippines:
#TrumpLeaks Photo: Ivanka Trump billboard in the Philippines for Trump Manila properties—Ivanka also sells her jewelry there. #amjoy #resist pic.twitter.com/76KbyjYcYH— Scott Dworkin (@funder) April 30, 2017
But if business can keep two countries from being hostile toward each other, what is the problem?
It would be great if Trump understood and appreciated George Washington's advice to avoid foreign entanglements. But as a second off option, I'll take Trump staying cool with the Philippines because of his business interests,
As Ludwig von Mises taught us:
Economically considered, war and revolution are always bad business.So one has to ask, if Trump can invite Duterte to the White House, why not North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?
Dealmaker Trump should cut a deal, remove the sanctions that suffocate North Korea and open the border between North and South Korea. Make it look like it was tough negotiator Kim Jong-un who forced the deal, something he can broadcast to his people back home.
In return, get Kim Jong-un to stop playing with nuke development.
Economics over war makes a lot of sense.
-RW
Kim can't afford a Perestroika, he would end up like the Ceaușescu's.
ReplyDeleteBefore David Leonhardt gets his knickers in a knot about the evil coming out of the state in the Philippines, maybe he ought to reflect on Obama's drone killings in the Middle East and the domestic War on People Who Believe They Own Their Own Bodies (in the media, known as the "War on Drugs"). [I understand these have not let up under El Jefe, but I'm guessing Leonhardt genuflected before Obama.]
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