Trump's press conference today with Netanyahu was pretty impressive. Trump was calm and 'Presidential', and handled it well.
On the downside though, we can re-add Iran to the growing US active enemies list, along with China. I don't really buy into Jim Rickard's theory about a 'strategic pivot' toward a US-Russia alliance that will leave China as the odd man out, even though that strategy might make sense. Trump may personally want friendly relations with Russia, but the Deep State seems intent on making Russia the West's prime enemy again.
Syria and Iran are arguably both Russian proxy states, and with the failure of the West's ISIS gambit, the only way to get progress now is to somehow neutralize Russian interference in the region. But short of WW III, how do you do that? The usual techniques of bribes, threats, and sanctions hasn't worked with Putin. He's extremely popular in Russia, so a Soros type color revolution won't work. Somehow replacing Putin with someone like Medvedev would be a start, but accomplishing that would be a tall order.
As Rickards said, a smarter strategy would be to admit that Syria/Iran is a lost cause, bypass it, and have the US ally with Russia to weaken China. So a variation on the Nixon/Kissinger strategy from the 1970s. But as Rickards has explained, China's banking system and economy is extremely vulnerable, and any collapse there will bring down the US and entire world financial system. So what would be gained by bringing down China?
As a practical businessman, Trump probably wants good relations with everyone since that is good for business, and is really the smartest strategy all around and the best for the world. But unfortunately the goal of the Deep State oligarchy goes way beyond business concerns - they're in a relentless drive toward world hegemony, which means eliminating all potential resistance everywhere.
