Foreign Policy Traps Await Republicans and Hillary

[Purveyor]

May 31, 2015 12:25 PM EDT
By Albert R. Hunt

Foreign policy is shaping up as a defining issue in the presidential campaign.

Republican candidates, with the exception of Rand Paul, are vying to take the most hawkish stance on combating Islamic State and, secondarily, countering Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Third Iraq War

They reflect a harder-line attitude among American voters in the wake of Islamic State's abominations and Putin's aggression toward Ukraine. Yet the public still is interventionist-adverse, after more than 13 years of wars, causing most candidates to temper their rhetoric on the use of U.S. forces. This is playing out in the populous Republican nomination contest. It will affect Hillary Clinton, too

It's not that national security is the most important issue for the public; that's still the economy and jobs. And there will be a plethora of international issues to debate, including Iran, China, Putin and trade.

But how to stem the atrocities of Islamic state, which seems to be getting stronger, will be the dominant question.

MORE...

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-31/foreign-policy-traps-await-republicans-and-hillary

[4139]

1. Hillary's Libya war, Hillary's Syria war...

is not going to sing

[Exilednight]

2. She did argue for arming the Syrians, but Obama trumped her.

[JonLP24]

3. Where is the media in all this?

Right there promoting those two things but I'll be shocked if Hillary Clinton says a harsh word about the King of Morocco who makes America hypocrites on the Putin issue (Western Sahara and Phosphates to know why they take a different approach) -- it isn't like either of the two don't already know whats really going on and foreign policy is directly tied to access to multinationals. Let the corporations profit or ours & Britain's you can be bad as you want to be -- why are the list of countries Iran, China, Putin, and trade? Rhetorical. Venezuela is on the list too.

She and the Republicans will fully know what to expect and what to do which is to do what's best for the CEOs.

Defense Industry Embraces Democrats, Hillary By Far The Favorite

he defense industry this year abandoned its decade-long commitment to the Republican Party, funneling the lion share of its contributions to Democratic presidential candidates, especially to Hillary Clinton who far out-paced all her competitors.

An examination of contributions of $500 or more, using the Huffington Post's Fundrace website, shows that employees of the top five arms makers - Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics -- gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to Republicans.

Senator Clinton took in $52,600, more than half of the total going to all Democrats, and a figure equaling 60 percent of the sum going to the entire GOP field. Her closest competitor for defense industry money is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R.), who raised $32,000.

Insofar as defense workers making political donations reflect the interests of their employers, the contributions clearly suggest that the arms industry has reach the conclusion that Democratic prospects for 2008 are very good indeed. Since their profits are so heavily dependent on government contracts, companies in this field want to be sure they do not have hostile relations with the White House.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/17/defense-industry-embraces_n_68927.html

They are gearing up to sell a lot of arms and Hillary Clinton strikes them as the candidate to push more wars not just from US but from our allies.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Have you seen this piece from Mother Jones?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/hillary-clinton-foundation-state-arms-deals

IBT found that between October 2010 and September 2012, State approved $165 billion in commercial arms sales to 20 nations that had donated to the foundation, plus another $151 billion worth of Pentagon-brokered arms deals to 16 of those countries—a 143 percent increase over the same time frame under the Bush Administration. The sales boosted the military power of authoritarian regimes such as Qatar, Algeria, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, which, like Saudi Arabia, had been criticized by the department for human rights abuses.

[JonLP24]

5. The King of Morocco recently donated $1 million to the Clinton Foundation

Now part of the "Saudi-led coalition" bombing the shit out of a religious minority in Yemen.

No but I do find it very interesting, thanks for the link.