Mattathias Schwartz, The New York Times, Feb. 26, 2019; for a satirical piece pertaining to Trump's foreign "policy," see (1); for a more "serious" piece, see (1)
This week’s North Korea meeting is just the latest challenge in a larger balancing act for the secretary of state.
Image from article, with caption: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife, Susan, arriving in Baghdad as part of a Middle East tour in January.
In his major policy speeches ... Pompeo has situated Trump somewhere between the neoconservative militarism of Paul Wolfowitz and the isolationism of Rand Paul. In so doing, he has helped to coalesce what might be called a frugal-hawk foreign policy, reflecting a new species of Republican leader who wants America to talk tough, avoid war, punish its enemies through economic sanctions and prod allies to pick up a larger share of the tab. In this worldview, only stubbornly anti-American governments like Venezuela’s are castigated for abusing and stealing from their own citizens; the domestic misbehavior of countries like Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia will be ignored so long as their foreign policies remain friendly. Iran, despite its relatively fair elections, did wrong by trying to go nuclear and backing militias that attack United States-allied forces in the region. ...
By statute, the role of foreign-service officers is different from that of soldiers. In addition to following orders, they engage in “policy formulation.” But under Pompeo, State has emphasized unity and obedience in a distinctly military fashion. “We take our direction from the commander in chief,” he wrote in an internal newsletter about a gathering of 185 heads of United States missions around the world called One Team, One Mission, One Future. When Vice President Mike Pence addressed the group at Main State, he called Trump “our one team captain.” He rattled off some marching orders from the commander: The diplomats, whom he called “our front-line emissaries,” were to return to their posts and inform allies that the United States’ Southern border would be secured; that peace would be preserved through the “strongest military in the history of the world”; and that “people of faith” would be championed around the world. “America is back,” he said. ...
“It informs everything I do,” Pompeo said, when I asked him about the Bible. ...
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