in the Middle East doesn't harm Israel,
but the governments are more worried
about the rise of Iran and therefore
don't want to be hostile towards Israel.
I’M SURE THAT THIS ISN'T THE FIRST OR
LAST TIME THAT YOU WILL BE ASKED
THIS, BUT HOW MUCH OF A THREAT DO
YOU BELIEVE THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP
POSES TO INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
AND THE MENTALITY HE REPRESENTS?
There is a long strain of isolationism in
America and he's merely the latest
manifestation of it, and the world has
survived before. That said, it is still too
early to know exactly what the US-
Russia relationship will look like. If he is
going to give a green light to Russia
having a sphere of influence in Europe,
that will be very dangerous.
DURING
DURING THE
THE 1930S
1930S AND
AND 40S
40S , , THE
THE US
US
PURSUED
A
‘GOOD
NEIGHBOUR’
POLICY
PURSUED A ‘GOOD NEIGHBOUR’ POLICY
TOWARDS
TOWARDS LATIN
LATIN AMERICA,
AMERICA, WHEREBY
WHEREBY
THEY
THEY DID
DID NOT
NOT INTERVENE
INTERVENE IN
IN THE
THE
DOMESTIC
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
AFFAIRS OF
OF THE
THE COUNTRIES
COUNTRIES
OF
OF THIS
THIS REGION.
REGION. DO
DO YOU
YOU BELIEVE
BELIEVE
RETURNING
RETURNING TO
TO THIS
THIS PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY IN
IN THE
PRESENT
DAY DAY
WOULD
RESOLVE
THE THE
THE PRESENT
WOULD
RESOLVE
RISING
RISING DIPLOMATIC
DIPLOMATIC TENSIONS,
TENSIONS,
PARTICULARLY
PARTICULARLY THOSE
THOSE AIMED
AIMED AT
AT MORE
MORE
INTERVENTIONIST
NATIONS
SUCH
INTERVENTIONIST NATIONS SUCH AS
AS
BRITAIN
AND
THE
US?
BRITAIN AND THE US?
Post-democracy has been very badly
governed and affects our whole foreign
policy thinking. The world has taken
some blows: for example, the Asian
investment bank – the US didn't to join
it, because it didn't want to dominate it.
Britain joined. This is an example of how
structures of the world have changed. A
new world order is emerging but we
don't know its shape yet which makes
us nervous. It has been worse before –
people tend to forget that. If you look at
childbirth mortality rates, education,
crime, etc, it is has and continues to
massively improve.
THE MEDIA
MEDIA IS
IS INCREASINGLY
INCREASINGLY DRAWING
DRAWING
THE
PARALLELS BETWEEN
BETWEEN THE
THE PRESENT
PRESENT DAY
DAY
PARALLELS
SITUATION IN
IN RUSSIA
RUSSIA AND
AND THAT
THAT OF
OF THE
THE
SITUATION
20TH CENTURY.
CENTURY. DO
DO YOU
YOU ACCEPT
ACCEPT THE
THE
20TH
VIEW THAT
THAT WE
WE ARE
ARE ABOUT
ABOUT TO
TO ENTER
ENTER
VIEW
ANOTHER COLD
COLD WAR
WAR DESPITE
DESPITE THE
THE
ANOTHER
RELATIONSHIP PUTIN
PUTIN AND
AND TRUMP
TRUMP HAVE
HAVE
RELATIONSHIP
ALLEGEDLY FORMED?
FORMED?
ALLEGEDLY
We are already in a new bracket, albeit
differently shaped, world. That was
shown by the Georgian war then mostly
by annexation of territory in Crimea. It is
not exactly the same as the Cold War
because there is less ideology involved,
and the difference between Russia and
America are not as great. There is not
going to be a great rapprochement.
There is no ideology that Communism
must take over the world anymore. The
world has learned from its mistakes.
Russia is a declining power, unlike the
Soviet Union was. It is still an aggressive
and dangerous power though. I just
don't buy that Trump is about to forge a
massive strategic power with Putin. We
are in a period where things are so
subtle and the order isn't working as
well as it used to. For example, NATO is
looking a bit nervous, the relationship
with Turkey is in distress, the Bretton
Woods institution and the IMF, etc are
taking hammer blows. Also the UN is no
longer regarded so highly. Putin is
potentially a bigger threat than Trump;
Trump doesn't want to gain territory by
force the way that Putin does. If Trump’s
isolationism gives Putin the idea that
America will accept a Russian sphere of
influence in Eastern Europe and the
Baltic states, that will be very bad.
Trump’s cabinet are urging him to back
off from Russia and do not want to give
the green light. He is also dangerous
because of his personality which could
constantly lash out in the China seas
instead of preserving peace.
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